London 2012 blog

The area of Tower Hamlets served by Bromley-by-Bow Centre is one of the most deprived in the country, and also one of the most culturally diverse. The Centre provides vital services to the community, from health to social and cultural. It is one of few green spaces for many miles around. And it's also a stone's throw from the site of the Olympic Park.

Its development began some 24 years ago. Then it was just a small church with a congregation of 6 or 7, with no connection to the community. The then Minister (now Lord) Andrew Mawson kickstarted a long process of social and economic regeneration in the area. It has led to massive change; the Centre now serves some 2,000 visitors each week. It has a really well functioning health facility and provides a real fulcrum for community life.

It was to this humbling location that a small LOCOG team turned up on a grey and overcast London morning, to make our contribution to London Better Together Day, a day when volunteers from the 'business community' help to transform the city we live in. We were treated extremely well by our hosts, and after a short briefing and tour, were assigned our task for the day. This was to clear out and 'makeover' two rooms in the Centre used by the community for art projects. It was a real before and after – Changing Rooms – experience. On first sight, the rooms were cluttered and really dirty, the most obvious thing about one of the rooms was the industrial sized metal sink taking up most of the floor.

Here's the team as they prepared for the days hard graft...

Read more of “London Better Together Day – the Changing Rooms experience...”

Interesting fact about Newport: it is the home of one of only eight transporter bridges in the world, moving whole segments of road from one side of a river to the other. Interesting fact about Cwmbran Stadium near Newport, is that it was on that athletics track, in May 1984, that Zola Budd, in her memorable bare feet, set the Welsh All Comers 1500m record of 4.04.39. A record which still stands today.

Newport and Cwmbran Stadium was also the first port of call for the visit of Jean Tomlin (LOCOG's HR Director), Amanda Delew and I on a day trip to Wales. This was the final leg of a series of visits to the three other UK home nations, where the objective has been to discuss with local stakeholders LOCOG's plans for volunteering in 2012. After successful trips to Scotland and Northern Ireland (some travel problems notwithstanding), this was another very worthwhile visit.

Cwmbran Stadium not only holds fond memories for Zola, it also hopes to do so in the future for a team from a country participating in the 2012 Games. It is one of 31 Welsh facilities which will be in the Pre-Games Training Camp Guide to be launched in Beijing. It will be in the Guide for Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Football and indoor Volleyball.

Read more of “Volunteering in Wales and the Harry Potter connection”

The Ipswich Gymnastics Centre in the East of England serves community as well as sporting interests.

It is an elite facility which has hosted a number of high level international gymnastics events, including with countries from as far afield as Brazil.

But on the day of the East of England launch of the Pre Games Training Camps Guide on Monday, there was also a large Mother and Toddler group making excellent use of the facilities. The bouncy floors have a very real dual purpose when it comes to a group of toddlers.

Chair of the Nations and Regions Group, Charles Allen, the multiple Gold Medallist swimmer, Karen Pickering, and Essex County Councillor Stephen Castle, were the party of luminaries in Ipswich to launch the Pre-Games Training Camps Guide.

Karen, Charles, Stephen and venue manager Andy Wood resting on the beam with the young gymnasts:

Read more of “Mums and tots enjoy potential Pre-Games Training Camp in Ipswich”