All Souls Church prepares for week-long community festival to mark the Olympics.
All Souls Church, Clapton Park hosted a bunting workshop for local residents this week to create designs for the upcoming Clapton Park Games – an initiative founded by the Church to get local residents excited for the upcoming Games.
The week-long festival will take place on Gilpin Square in the Clapton Park Estate in Hackney from 30 July to 4 August, and will involve a variety of activities that have been planned by local organisations.
From kids clubs, live music, a community fete and BBQ, residents and local organisations have come together to plan an Olympic celebration, in the hope of getting local people excited about the Games coming to London. Sporting events on the day include a Boxing exhibition, by the local Boxing Club, a street dance competition by the local youth club and a football competition is being run and sponsored by charity, Newlon Fusion with the local amateur football club hosting a training session.
Sport is just one aspect of the Clapton Park Games though, with local artists displaying their talents via a large scale display on the outside of the redundant boiler house located in the area. The housing office is hosting various activities including the fete, BBQ and a party with live music whilst local charities in the area, including Social Action for Health, will be offering various activities too.
Residents of all ages have had the chance to be involved, including taking part in the bunting workshop, or the logo competition for local Primary Schools, where the winning design has been used on all the advertising.
The planning of The Clapton Park Games started more than 18 months ago, and began as an initiative by the Revd Tom Haley of All Souls Church. He said:
"I am so excited that the Olympics are coming to London, and I wanted to find a way to engage people in this amazing event, as an opportunity to bring local residents together. I’m pleased to see so many local organisations come on board and help plan the event, and we hope as many people come down as possible and just enjoy the festival and be proud of what our local community has achieved together".
To find out more visit www.claptonpark.com.
