The day began as always with talk of redevelopment, at the Olympic Park Legacy Company. But what everyone was looking forwards to was meeting with the senior bees. I wasn’t sure what the meeting was going to take the form of or what to expect.. We arrived at Rich Mix at about two pm, spent some time getting better acquainted with the building and it multifaceted approach to community building that we certainly found unique. We all agreed that we would try to use apply this approach to the Olympic site because we are all about functionality and community cohesion. The Rich Mix Centre is a great example of this. The time came to meet the senor bees, I must admit I was somewhat apprehensive about meeting then, but my apprehension was unfounded. I met my sensor bee. a lady whom I found fascinating, me and the rest of the table made up of other members of the panel began a deep and interesting exchange of ideas about the development and its benefits and down falls. After this there was a group feed back session where we were afforded the opportunity to further discuss the issues and possible solutions. I felt extremely satisfied with this discussion and the shape it took, it exposed issues and themes that were not exclusive to the senor bees but were shared by us all.

Today was awesome! The day started with everyone meeting at the Olympic Park Legacy Company offices, which was followed by discussions mainly based on communities and how there are many different small communities which form one big community. This has helped me to find out more about different people’s opinion.. After that we had lunch which was fun as everyone was talking to each other and having a laugh like we’ve known each other for ages. After that we made our way to the Rich Mix where we met a group of elderly people  called the Senior B’s, we had very interesting talks and by the end of it I actually thought that this group of older people were very cool, easy to speak to and very friendly. This whole day was a great experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to meet up with the Senior B’s later on in the year.

We began the day by exploring the idea of communities and how they are set up and what was essential for each community – what makes a community?  We looked at the facilities existent in communities and also what other facilities and buildings would make communities better and more active.
After the morning session, we went to the Rich Mix Centre in Hackney. There we met the ‘Senior Bees’ who we talked to about communities and other issues to understand what makes a community.  We gained the understanding of their opinion and they talked to us about how things have changed between the communities they used to live in and what was essential then which is not now.
We also asked for their thoughts on what were the most essential foundations to make a successful community and they gave us their feedback on this too. Overall, we talked about community and how we can make the area we live in more interactive and more community based.  It was an interesting day.

The Senior Bees are a group of elders run by the Building Exploratory in Hackney.  The Senior Bees meet fortnightly and to gain knowledge about the built environment.

On Saturday 27th February 2010, LYP and the Senior Bees met at the Rich Mix in Tower Hamlets, one of the 5 host boroughs to talk about communities….

Read on…

Shaneice Bailey, Feb 2010

 
Going on a tour of the Olympic site was amazing because I got the chance to see, first hand, the park coming together. I went on the same tour with the legacy ambassadors when the park just started. Going again gave me the opportunity to see how much it has developed over time.

When I was on the site I was comparing it with the first time I visited the park. I can say it has defiantly come along way.

On the visit I also found out a lot of interesting facts. Things like, the aquatics centre has been nicknamed the Pringle because of its shape. Also things like, they are ahead of schedule on the main stadium. As we drove around the site and saw all the buildings, because of how developed they all are, I could actually imagine some of them when they are completed. 

Going on the Olympic site tour again was amazing, it was a really good experience and I really enjoyed it.

Tobi Bello, Feb 2010

As a member of the Legacy Youth Panel, I attended a photo call, press launch and an astonishing Olympic site tour On Wednesday 17^th February 2010. It was a great experience for me, firstly taking photos was exquisite it really attracted me towards the motives of positive publicity and ambition also the photographer was very friendly to me and the rest of the panel members. After taking the photos I took an interview which was video recorded involving why I joined the legacy youth panel and how my contribution will make a difference then after the interview I had lunch. The last and most thrilling activity of the day was the Olympic site tour which I felt very privileged and grateful to attend, I must say it was architecture paradise. We saw the Olympic village were thousands of athletes and officials will stay during the London 2012 games and then after will be converted into family houses for sale. The Olympic stadium was very vast I also learned it will hold 80,000 spectators, in my opinion the most outstanding landmark is the aquatic centre it had an attractive but very unique look as it resembles a pringle/wave like shape which was designed by an international architect Zaha Hadid. We also saw the main press centre will be for the broadcasters, photographers and journalists and finally the Velodrome, which also has a creative  pringle/wave shape is a 6,000 seat venue that will host the indoor Olympic and Paralympic cycling events .There were many other   buildings in the making  but the following above really caught my eye. The host on the tour bus was very appealing and informative of facts based on the Olympics which has definitely improved my knowledge and understanding. I had great fun on Wednesday being this is a large opportunity for me as a member of the Legacy youth Panel representing Newham.

Rachael Oyedele, Feb 2010

‘Wow’ today was amazing; I got a chance to go on an Olympic park tour. Once I got there I didn’t realise just how big and improved it was, because there’s a saying which says you don’t know how something is until you go in it or have a try and thankfully today I was lucky enough to go on the site tour.I got a better view of different facilities and events that are taking place on the 2012 Olympics. I was so inspired to know that we were the first group to see the handball arena start to come out the ground, and to know that in legacy we will be able to use it. This is inspiring to me because I like and have an interest in hand ball.

I am so honoured and grateful to have been given the opportunity to go on the site tour because it gave me the chance to see what was happening first hand, we got to see the Olympic village and the main Olympic stadium that holds 80000 seats. I gained a lot of knowledge on not only the Olympics but the world also.

There was a lady that came on the tour bus with us and she was our host for the tour around the park, and it was really useful having her with us because she was speaking to us and asking questions about the different events and just giving us more knowledge on the Olympics itself. 

The real land mark for me today was the aquatic centre and being up close to see how detailed and precise the architect Zaha Hadid designed it. It was also interesting to know that they call the Velodrome the ‘PRINGLE’ because it is shaped like a pringle.

 I am so happy to know that the park is like a star that unites the communities and to know that the political legacy is getting everybody together all the different boroughs and councils have got there different genders, the government, agency’s, mayor of London everyone has a roll in the Olympics even dogs, they are training dogs from the dog hound to become securities dogs for the Olympics. It has been magnificent today and I will never forget Wednesday 17^th February 2010.

Yuan Chen, 17 from Greenwich

Yuan Chen, Feb 2010

It seemed like Mother Nature was smiling down on us today and gave us great weather for the Legacy Youth Panel photo call and our much anticipated tour of the 2012 Olympic Park. We were lucky to be photographed individually and in group shots with clear blue skies and the now enormous 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium as our backdrop. After wards, lunch gave everyone a chance to chat away and simply enjoy the view of the Olympic Park being built as we ate. You can’t help but feel excited when the Olympic Stadium is just towering over the waterways before you.

The second part of the day was spent on the 001 Tour Bus through the heart of the Olympic Park. For the new LYP members it was our first chance to visit the Park, but for the existing members it was an opportunity to see all the changes made since their last tour. With cameras and phones at the ready, the tour bus drove us around the Stadium, past the VeloPark and the architecturally spectacular Aquatics Centre with the Olympic Village in the distance. For me seeing the whole ‘Stingray’ roof close up for the first time was truly inspiring. Along the way our guide quizzed us on our knowledge of the London Olympics. Not surprisingly we all did pretty well.

I think it’s safe to say we all can’t wait for 2012 to come! The transformation from the building site now to a fully fledged Olympic Park will be amazing.

Ibtesham Hossain, Feb 2010

“There it stood; five rings piercing out from the bleeding blue background. As we stepped on the infamous tour bus, sun empowering the atmosphere with a welcoming breeze, anxious, excited and hopeful feelings dispersed into the air. As we inched towards the site it was like the Red Sea had once more parted allowing us to enter the venue because every view was a reflection of perfection. The Velodrome encapsulates the bliss and sensations of the phenomenal tremble gold achieved by Chris Hoy, the slightest view of it induces the thousands of images of the emphatic win in Beijing – and yet the structure is still unfinished. The Aquatic Centre. The overused cliché has to be used once more as words truly cannot describe its beauty. It lingers hundreds of feet of the ground harbouring more like a moving wave in a still picture than a building. The pinnacle of the 2012 Olympics, and a structure that is truly awe inspiring sending tingles down every spine upon its view. Simply amazing.”

Shabaz Hussain, Feb 2010

“Hi, I’m Shabaz and I am a member of the Legacy Youth Panel which has been set up by the Olympic Park Legacy Company. I’ve been a member over a year now and we have discussed and also acted upon issues surrounding legacy of the Olympic Park. For example, what happens to the stadium, the local area, neighbourhoods and our schools. Last year, as part of the Legacy Youth Panel, we collectively thought of a ‘Legacy Manifesto’ which included all the actions we wished to be put in place after the Olympic Games in 2012.

I have carried on my role as a Legacy Youth Panel member as I wanted to continue to be part of the decision making and planning of the legacy of the Olympic Games. On 17^th February, the new and existing panel members went on a tour of the upcoming Olympic Park. We first met at the ‘View Tube’ which is a small building made out of recycled containers which gave us outstanding views of the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre and the Velodrome in the far distance. We then walked the short journey towards the Stratford Bus station where we boarded the Olympic Tour Bus.

The tour began and we immediately saw the busiest building in the world when the 2012 games would begin, the ‘Media centre.’ Our tour continued and we saw a lot of dirt, mud and rubble but hidden among the large hills of soil were the extraordinary stadiums. In some places such as the Handball arena, only the pillars could be seen but in others such as the Velodrome, the metal structure swerving around itself looked like a giant metallic ‘pringle’ risen from the ground. The tour continued and we passed several mean looking trucks and bulldozers until we finally reached the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre. The River Lee, which runs across the Olympic Park, has also been cleansed and the structures rebuilt to create a more peaceful and calming space..

We first toured around the Aquatics Centre and saw its overwhelming structure and as we got closer to the Aquatics, we saw the magnificent engineering which would have taken place to build such a great looking stadium designed by Zaha Hadid. Now we had approached the central masterpiece, the stadium which would reign over the others however innovative they were, the great Olympic Stadium.  Since my previous visits and tours of the Olympic Park, I have gradually seen the Olympic Stadium shoot up from the rubble on the ground to the circular metallic stadium housing over 80,000 people and reaching a phenomenal height. Being part of the Legacy Youth Panel, I then began to think about the Stadium after its time of the glory in the 2012 Olympics… We finished our tour and returned to the present life of 2010…

Onoufrios Theodoulou, 15 from Heathcote School.  Waltham Forest

Onoufrios Theodoulou, February 2010

 “Today was fantastic! At 11:15am me and my fellow Youth Panel friends met up at Pudding Mill Lane DLR on the greenway. From there we had a nice walk to the View Tube were we sat in the cafe downstairs waiting for the late ones to turn up. First, we were all ready to have our photo shoot for publicity shots in front of the main stadium which seats 80,000 people. This was all very exciting.  Standing on that bench with the photographer taken pictures of me felt like I felt that being part of the Legacy Youth Panel was important and it was amazing fun. Then we had the tour of the Olympic park this was very helpful to me as i gained more knowledge on the park and what was on the site. It made me feel very lucky that I live in Waltham Forest and that we are one of the Olympic host boroughs. I also thought our tour guide was excellent as she provided us with lots of facts and figures and entertained us. The driver also stopped to let us take photos which was nice of him. I would like to end this with a big thank you to everyone for organising this interesting day.

Keep reading to find out their thoughts on it…

Legacy Youth Panel outside the tour bus.