Young Leaders Visit Olympic Park and Host Borough
The countdown to the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games is well underway, and with the greatest show on earth taking place in under a year, schools in the Winchester District are starting to benefit. In September a group of around 30 young leaders from Swanmore Technology College and Peter Symonds College headed up to Hackney, host borough for London 2012, to celebrate their Personal Bests event and help young children from the borough realise their full potential.
The leaders guided their groups of children around the 6 different athletic stations encouraging them to improve on their original personal best scores set earlier in the year. Over 1000 new personal bests had been set during the day.
The group also went to view the Olympic site and were given a briefing on the developments by Charlie Forman, Chief Officer for Hackney Borough Council’s 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Unit. This opportunity was developed as part of the ongoing link between Hackney Borough Council and Winchester City Council which has seen schools from Hackney visit Winchester’s Olympic standard athletics track at Bar End, Hackney’s Paralympic Ambassador present at the Winchester District Sports Awards and leadership visits organised for local young people. The ongoing partnership will continue to develop and it is hoped that further joint projects will evolve over the next year in the build up to the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games.
Cllr Patricia Stallard, Portfolio Holder for Culture, Heritage and Sport said, “This has been a fantastic opportunity for our leaders to test their skills and become involved in a project that has a direct link to a host borough of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Viewing the park and helping local host borough schools is a wonderful opportunity and something that will hopefully stay with these leaders forever, well done to all involved.”
Stuart Barlow, Chair of the Winchester District SPAA said, “Personal Bests is an idea that has been implemented in Winchester but developed from Hackney Borough Council and it’s important that we continue to help their project develop further by providing these talented and enthusiastic leaders. They have shown commitment and maturity and have been fantastic advocates for the Winchester District.”
Personal Bests continues to grow in Winchester with primary schools being given a final chance to sign up to the project for this year. If further information is required about this project please contact Chris Peach, Sports Development Officer, Winchester City Council on 01962 848 532.