I met up with Lambeth’s sports and events team this morning
together with Cllr Rachel Heywood. Our last manifesto
promised a new sports festival to give young people – and others –
more opportunities to keep fit and develop positive, healthy
interests. We also want the event to be part of Lambeth’s
preparations for the 2012 London Olympics.
The new sports event will start later this summer before being
expanded into a much bigger festival next year. Based in and
around Kennington Park, it will give youngsters the chance to get
involved in sports like football, basketball, athletics and
cricket, and try out sports that may be new to them like
judo. We also asked the organisers to make sure there
are events for older and disabled people who want a chance to keep
fit and get more involved with sports.
The new festival – it hasn’t got an official name yet – aims to
gear local people up for the Olympics. I scored a small
victory a few months ago when I met with London Olympics chairman
Sebastian Coe and Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell. I asked
why, since taxpayers in all boroughs are paying towards the
Olympics, we can’t all call ourselves ‘Olympic Host Borough’ and
use the Olympic branding for our own events. After all, the
games belong to all of London. I was delighted they agreed,
so Lambeth will soon declare itself an Olympic Host Borough and we
may even be able to be the official host to one or two of the
international teams that will be taking part in the
Games.
This year’s sports festival will take place over one weekend in
early September. Next year it will expand to cover
tournaments in a range of different sports right through the
summer, with the finals held at a mini-Olympic style event.
The winners will receive awards and there will be opportunities for
local people to volunteer as part of the London-wide Olympics
volunteering programme. We want the Olympics to give more
people the chance to get actively involved in grassroots
sports. And who knows, we may even discover an Olympic
champion or two along the way!
It’s very exciting that the Olympics are coming to London.
This festival is one way to make sure local people benefit from
it.
It's not only young people who'll get to take part in the
new 'Lambeth Olympics' starting later this year
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