The London 2012 Olympics had a huge impact on the London Borough of Newham, with the London Stadium and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford at the heart of the celebrations. With the 10th anniversary fast approaching, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced a series of grants for local community groups to explore some of the legacies of The London 2012 Olympics.
Who wants to be an Olympian? is a project by Pakiki Theatre CIC that will highlight the sporting heritage of the Olympics and Paralympics in Newham. The project will create an interactive theatre show aimed at the generations that were not yet born or were too young to remember it first-hand. Children aged 6-12 years old will be able to come along with their families to see this fun and contemporary show and then take part in a follow up response activity. It will launch at Newham Heritage Month 2022 and then continue within the community at local primary schools.
The show will tell the story of The London 2012 Olympics and the impact that it had on sportspeople and organisations in Newham. The audience will not only hear individuals’ memories but also be able to share their own personal experiences. The research discoveries will then be documented and added to the local archives to continue to build the legacy. From this, it’s hoped that the younger generations can understand the excitement felt at the time and feel inspired to continue the Olympic legacy in their Borough.
Newham Music Trust are creating a schools music programme, The Olympics 2012 Legacy Songbook, that will explore the impact of the 2012 Olympics through music. Children and young people from Newham’s schools will take part in educational inspiration days at the Olympic Park and meet some of the participation team and local historians. They will be able to feel inspired by the striking Olympic structures and learn about the community response to create their own original songs based on these heritage explorations. These original songs will then be performed in the Velodrome at the Olympic Park by 2,500 young musicians from the local community.
Parrabbola will be creating a living archive of memories from the volunteers of London 2012. This oral history project will focus specifically on the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and Paralympics and these stories will then form a verbatim performance during Newham Heritage Month, which will also appear online. The project, entitled Being There: memories of the London 2012 Opening and Closing Ceremonies, will create a legacy of archives for future generations to use and learn from.
Stuart McLeod, Director England – London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Supporting community projects such as these means that we can unlock important heritage stories for future generations. The London 2012 Olympics had a huge impact on Newham and thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, we can make sure these stories are told and also archived as a legacy to what has been achieved.”
Newham Heritage Month takes place in June this year and has a theme of ‘What London 2012 Means To Us’. These three projects will feature alongside other community projects who have been awarded community grants from Newham Council, supported by the Heritage Fund. This forms part of the Area of Focus work by the Heritage Fund where 13 local authorities across the UK, including Newham, have been selected to ensure heritage investment is made where it has previously been low.
