David Carpenter was a student at the University of Bath in the 1970s and was elected to the Sports Association (then called Athletics Union) as President during his time here.

He went on to work for the Sports Council in London.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s he researched the possibility of a national lottery which would fund sport. Convinced that this was the only way in which Britain could compete on a world stage, he lobbied government and was one of the main forces behind the creation of the National Lottery Fund with its five “good cause” beneficiaries.

The end result has been a multi-billion pound injection into sport and recreation in the UK – whether at grass-roots facility level or in supporting current and potential future Olympians.