Working for a fairer future for Milton Keynes businesses and ensuring a fair competition for Olympic divers from all corners of the globe, it’s all part of Melanie Beck’s ethos of simply being there to support people.
Melanie is well known across the city not only for her work in the business community but with SportsAid, MK SNAP and Milton Keynes Hospital. What’s perhaps less well known is her long association with Britain’s elite diving squad and the organisation behind it.
A keen diver when she was a child – and with a father who went from being a parent watching his children to becoming President of the Amateur Swimming Association – Melanie began working behind the scenes after she finished competing and by 2006 had been appointed Chairman of the Performance Management Group for Performance Diving with British Swimming.
“Diving has been in my life for 35 years, competing myself, although never to the standard my sister achieved, and then working behind the scenes,” said Melanie. “But as the Athens Olympics was drawing to a close, my father died suddenly. I couldn’t even watch the closing ceremony because I thought my association with the sport was over and it was just too emotional to see the Olympic flame expire.
“Then, a couple of years later, I was working in London at Jones Lang LaSalle in the property industry and was focusing on my career, when David Sparks from British Swimming rang me and told me they had a vacancy for Chairman of British Diving. They were looking for retired sports people/businesspeople to support the delivery of the aquatics disciplines at the 2012 London Games and asked would I be interested.
“Naturally, I was, and I’ve now been involved in the preparation and technical delivery of five Olympic Games and we’re already preparing for Los Angeles in 2028.”
From her role with British Swimming, and with increasing technical and organisational knowledge and experience, Melanie moved through various roles within FINA, now World Aquatics, and is the current Secretary of World Aquatic Diving.
She began around the time Britain’s best-known diver, Tom Daley, was making an impact on the scene, winning bronze in Beijing in 2008 as a 14-year-old. It’s been an exciting period for the country’s diving cohort, but as Melanie’s involvement has changed, she has had to learn to cope with remaining entirely neutral in her role with a world body, while nursing a quiet pride in the British team and all it has achieved.
Back in Milton Keynes, Melanie delivered the feasibility and establishment of MyMiltonKeynes BID working hard to bring together all those businesses who are at the heart of the city’s success.
“A lot of the people I worked with were delighted to see me out at international competitions, representing Milton Keynes in a way, but however excited I get about what’s going on in the diving, I just have to shut it out and remain utterly impartial,” said Melanie. “World Aquatics is responsible for everything from testing the computer systems to making sure the water quality and temperature is correct. We assess the facilities, the safety and the judges – looking out for any bias and continually evaluating them to ensure fair play. If we are really lucky we get to present a medal or two and if that’s to your own team, there is a quiet and discreet pleasure.
“It’s absolutely full on, but we’re there to represent every athlete, not just my own British team, so I have become very good at not showing outwardly what I’m feeling inside.”
Having undergone treatment for breast cancer a year ago, Melanie stepped aside from her role as Chief Executive of MyMiltonKeynes BID at the end of last year but is still involved as Chairman of MK Special Needs Advancement Project (MK SNAP); SportsAid, a charity that supports talented young athletes to achieve their ambitions; and Milton Keynes Hospital Charity. She is also a chaplain at Milton Keynes Hospital, and in 2021 received an MBE for her work delivering food to vulnerable households and PPE to various hospitals in the region during the pandemic.
Melanie is also a practising Salvationist at Milton Keynes Salvation Army, following four generations before her, and it is this, she believes, that is the moral compass that instilled in her the values of helping others before herself.
“People ask me why I do what I do, because most of my roles now are entirely voluntary, but it’s simple, I have always wanted to support and mentor people in my community and when I look in the mirror at the end of the day, know that I gave something back. If you are lucky enough to be able to help people in some way, why wouldn’t you?
“It has brought me so many opportunities, I’ve travelled all over the world and met some interesting and amazing people. I’ve visited countries I would never have visited, I’ve been throughout the Middle East, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Australia and a lot of China, and learned about people and cultures I never would have seen otherwise. This has certainly made me a more grounded person and most definitely more tolerant.
“Primarily, I want to help people in my own community because I want to see Milton Keynes flourish. We’re a growing city but that brings with it increasing problems – deprivation, stress on infrastructure and homelessness, to name but a few. We have to not just focus on the business community, but make sure we have a city that is fit for purpose and can continue to thrive.”
As to her future involvement, Melanie is keen to ensure succession planning is in place so that Great Britain keeps its ‘seat at the table’ when she decides to step down from World Aquatics.
“I would like to go to Los Angeles in 2028, as long as I feel I am fit enough to carry on,” she said. “I already help educate fledgling judges for international competitions, and I want to continue do- ing that, but also I want to continue working with the third sector and achieve as much as I can there before I get past it.”
