Do you have a London 2012 athlete living nearby?
Excitement is building as London 2012 approaches, and the names of the Olympic and Paralympic athletes are all gradually being confirmed.
The Olympic Synchronised Swimming Team has just been announced – they train in Aldershot, North Hampshire, and we at Hampshire 2012 will definitely be following their progress! Why not find out who your most local London 2012 athlete is and cheer them on during the Games? The Hampshire 2012 website www.hants.gov.uk/2012 has pages listing all Hampshire’s Olympians and Paralympians
Interested in music? Take the five note challenge!
As part of the Cultural Olympiad, the County Council is inviting people to take a musical challenge!
Take the notes of this special scale and let your imagination rip – then share it with the world by uploading it to the dedicated site. You can decide the style or genre you write your music in, and decide whether to use only the five notes, or just use them as the basis for your music.
When you have finished your piece, save it as an mp3 or video and email it to hwtw@posterous.com
Then persuade your friends to do the same – especially if they live abroad, so that we can make ‘Hampshire Welcomes the World‘ a reality. Find out about other Olympic-themed activities in Hampshire at www.hants.gov.uk/2012 .
You can also listen to everyone else’s musical pieces at www.hwtw.posterous.com.
Hampshire’s Paralympic Flame Festival begins
The Light a Lantern Paralympic Flame Festival will take place across the county this summer, to celebrate the London 2012 Paralympic Games – and you’re invited!
The festival will see 12 specially organised events take place around Hampshire in the lead up to the 2012 Games, before culminating in two finale events which will coincide with the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games. At a Flame Festival event, people can try Paralympic sports and other inclusive activities. See the list of events at www.hants.gov.uk/2012/2012-events/flame-festival
The festival began just before Easter, when children from Hardley School, New Forest, were joined by a whole host of Paralympic athletes to launch the campaign and encourage the people of Hampshire to get involved.
The athletes took part in lantern making and then led Boccia and Goalball sessions. Boccia is a game like Boules, and Goalball is a ball game that people with visual impairments can play alongside people with normal vision. Players wear blindfolds so that everyone competes on a more level playing field.
(photo: GB Goalball Player Adam Knott, making lanterns with children from SPACES and Parentlink special needs clubs at the launch of the Paralympic Flame Festival)
Play your part in the Games
Rally your friends and neighbours, and celebrate London 2012. Become a Local Leader, and get the tools you need to plan your celebration.
You could:
Line the Streets. Is the Olympic Flame coming your way? Check the route. Save the date. Give your town its moment to shine.
Garden for the Games. Get your neighbours to grow window boxes in red, white and blue. Or go for gold, and plant the Olympic Rings.
The Big Games Quiz. Who’ll be the Brain of the Games?
Opening Night In. 27 July. Send out the invites. Put up the bunting. Turn on the telly. And hold your breath…
Super Saturday. 4 August will see 25 Golds. Get everyone round the barbecue, and cheer on your team.
Light a Lantern. 24-29 August. Join a flame festival, and celebrate the Paralympic Games.
Last day of the Games. 9 September. Get together for the Closing Ceremony. Light the fireworks and say you were part of it.
Sound right up your street? Sign up at london2012.com/localleaders
Where the GB canoe team are training …
Did you know the GB canoe team were training in Gosport? http://http://www.uksport.gov.uk/news/gb-canoeing-athletes-leave-no-inch-of-water-un-paddled-130312
Five Hampshire schools are in with a chance to win Paralympic Games tickets after being voted into the final of Hampshire County Council’s annual school competition.
This year’s competition, inspired by London 2012, challenged 16 schools to use the values of the Olympic games and deliver a project or event which embraces two or more of the ‘Inspire Themes’ and creates a lasting legacy for their chosen community. The schools also had to produce a short video about their project to be put to a public vote.
7000 public votes have now been counted and the top five will now go through to the live final on the day the Olympic Torch passes through Winchester.
The five successful finalists are:
- The Connaught School, Aldershot
- Cove School, Farnborough
- Crestwood College, Eastleigh
- Icknield Special School, Andover
- Swanmore College of Technology
On Wednesday 11 July, the five finalists will be asked to present their project to the Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, who will choose the overall winner.
The London 2012 inspire themes are Business, Culture, Education, Sport, Sustainability and Volunteering.
London 2012 Will Be The Spark For Transformation Of British Sport – From Elite To Grassroots
Hosting the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the catalyst for a revolution in British sport at all levels over the next decade, Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson announced as he unveiled 10 key components which combined form the sports legacy from the Games:
- Elite and community sport to benefit from the increase to sports share of lottery funds. Top athletes will continue to be supported post 2012, leading up to the Olympics inRioin 2016. Community facilities to be improved across the country as a result of the lottery increase.
- World class facilities – Velodrome, Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Lee Valley White Water Centre, Europa Centre all examples of state of the art facilities that will be used by elite athletes and local communities long after London 2012.
- World class events – a decade of top sporting competition on British soil will continue to inspire the next generation to get involved in sport. Rugby League World Cup 2013, Commonwealth Games 2014, Rugby Union World Cup 2015, World Athletics Championships 2017, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 a few of the highlights to come after London 2012.
- Sport England’s £135 million Places People Play legacy programme is upgrading facilities and increasing opportunities for people to get involved in sport. On top of that the Mayor of London’s Sports Legacy programme is already making an impact on community sport across the capital with more to come.
- ‘Inspire’ programme has galvanised local authorities and community organisations to launch sport projects and bring forward investment into sport facilities in the run up to 2012. Over 900 sports projects have reached millions.
- Sport England’s new Youth and Community Sport Strategy launched – £1 billion programme over the next five years to help deliver on Lord Coe’s promise inSingapore to inspire a generation through sport.
- ‘Sainsbury’s School Games’ competition – rejuvenating competitive sport in school. Over 12,000 schools participating, inaugural finals to be held in the Olympic Park in May and a FTSE 100 sponsor secured in a four year deal.
- London 2012’s ’Get Set’ programme has 20,000 schools signed up. Getting young people excited up and down the country ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, encouraging them to be inspired by sport.
- Signposting Olympic fans to join in at the grassroots. Work underway to encourage fans at the Olympic and Paralympic Games to try out sport in their local community.
- International Inspiration – London 2012’s overseas programme benefiting the lives of millions of children in 20 countries around the world.
The Minister also highlighted the success of the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme in London which has already seen around £40 million invested in grass roots sport helping to build or refurbish over 60 sports facilities, fund over 10,000 people to train as sports coaches and officials and support large-scale participation projects such as Parkrun and the London School of Basketball that will engage around 200,000 Londoners in physical and sporting activity.
Inspired by London 2012, Hampshire schools are finding ways to make a memorable contribution to their communities. You have two weeks left to vote!
Short video clips at www.hants.gov.uk/makeanimpact show how schools are rising to the challenge set ‘To use the inspiration of the London 2012 Games and their values to design and deliver a project or event which embraces two or more of the London 2012 ‘Inspire Themes’ and which will create a lasting legacy for their chosen community’.
Make your vote count – by 23 March. Please take a look at the short video clips at www.hants.gov.uk/makeanimpact and vote to help determine which schools will go through to the Grand Final in July.
Which project do you think will make the greatest positive impact?
Communities in the South East are set to host Flame Celebrations as part of the London 2012 Paralympic Relay. Over 3500 people have been nominated to be Torchbearers in campaigns run by BT, Lloyds TSB and Sainsbury’s and 150 schools from across the UK taking part in the STEM Challenge 9 to investigate how to create a spark by the energy of human endeavour to light the Paralympic Flame.
London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) has announced the communities across theUKthat will hold Flame Celebrations as part of the London 2012 Paralympic Torch Relay. In the South East, celebrations will be held in Horsham and Aylesbury. Four Flames will be lit as part of a new concept for the Paralympic Torch Relay, one each inLondon, Greater Belfast,EdinburghandCardiff. As the spiritual home of the Paralympic Movement, Stoke Mandeville will play an important role as host of the Paralympic Flame Lighting Ceremony, where the four national flames will be united to create the London 2012 Paralympic Flame. This Flame will be carried on a 24 hour overnight Relay toLondonand the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
Director of Paralympic Integration, Chris Holmes, said: “We are thrilled that these communities from the South East will play host to Flame Celebrations and build on the anticipation around the event at Stoke Mandeville. This new concept will involve people from all around theUKin the spirit of the Paralympic Movement in unique ways relevant to their area. I know that people across the South East will get involved in these celebrations and help ignite passion for the Paralympics across the UK.”
A total of 34 communities around theUKhave taken the opportunity to host Flame Celebrations as part of the programme of events that will take place over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Horsham District Council will send a Flame Ambassador to one of the four national Lighting events to take part of the Flame back to the Flame Celebration in their area. For the Flame Celebration in Aylesbury Town Centre, the Paralympic Torch Relay will run from Stoke Mandeville to the 10,000 strong community event, as part of the 24-hour overnight relay to mark the start of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
On Tuesday 28th August, the Paralympic Flame will be carried by teams of inspirational Torchbearers, in a 24 hour overnight relay from Stoke Mandeville to the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The 620 Torchbearers, who will also carry the Flame during Flame Festivals, are being chosen by the three Presenting Partners, BT, Lloyds TSB and Sainsbury’s. There were over 3500 nominations from across the country and they are now going through their selection processes before the successful teams are announced in the next couple of months. The relay will also include nominations from the British Paralympic Association, the International Paralympic Committee and other London 2012 sponsors.
People are encouraged to help light the way to the Paralympic Games by lighting a lantern. For more information visit www.london2012.com/get-involved/local-leaders/lantern-festival/
Five note challenge
Hampshire County Council is launching a five note challenge as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. With just five notes: C,G,B,F,E, people are being asked to compose their own musical masterpiece, inspired by the London 2012 Games.
Once completed people who take up the challenge can share their piece and upload it via www.hants.gov.uk/5-note-challenge for everyone to enjoy. The website has a number of examples covering a wide range of musical styles and different approaches to the challenge to help people get started.
The five note challenge is part the County Council’s wider Hampshire Welcomes the World project. There are five programmes each focussing on a different continent of the world, as represented by a particular ring of the Olympic Flag: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Each programme will consist of musical workshops, performances and outreach events designed to engage schools. For example, schools in the north east will be focussing on the continent of Asia, exploring the music of Indonesia, Japan, Nepal and India.
Each programme will culminate in a musical event at an iconic cultural venue in Hampshire: Winchester Cathedral, The New Forest, Danebury Fort, Farnborough Airship Hangar and Staunton Country Park. For more information visit www.hants.gov.uk/hwtw
The Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, said: “The five note challenge is a fantastic way for everyone to get involved with the creative side of this project. We would love to hear what people can do with these five notes and hope that we will get pieces sent in, not just from Hampshire, but all over the world.
“The wider Hampshire Welcomes the World project is set to be an exciting time for school children. They will be learning about musical cultures from all over the world with live demonstrations led by experts from around the world as well as by local staff from Hampshire Music Service.”
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