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On
Carnival Sunday you can Witness
the passing of the Olympic torch to London from the
Mayor of Beijing, China at
the Notting Hill Carnival on Giant Screen TV |
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Be at
Emslie Horniman Pleasance Park -W10 when London
officially takes up the
mantle of Olympic city. |
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The theme of this year's Notting Hill Carnival is "Welcoming
the World" to coincide with the handing over of the Olympic
flag from Beijing to London. The Olympic flag handover takes
place on the Sunday in central London.
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official handover
screenings |
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The Olympic handover screenings take place on Sunday
24th August at other locations as well. The official
handover takes place at 2.30pm with entertainment on
hand before and after the event. |
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Other locations: |
Besides Notting Hill Carnival, screenings will take
place in Trafalgar Square, Canary Wharf, Shoreditch
Park, O2 Arena, and Greenwich. |
At a press conference for the
Carnival on July 23, 2008, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson
said the carnival's theme "Welcoming The World," reflectied the
multicultural spirit of the event and the people across the
globe who will visit London for the Games.
“On Sunday 24 August, the world will be watching London as it
accepts the flag and the challenge to stage the best Games ever
in 2012. From the concert in the Mall to Carnival in Notting
Hill this will be a fantastic day out, as well as historic
moment.” Mayor Johnson said.
This year's carnival will see the installation of a giant 25
square metre screen at Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park, near
Ladbroke Grove.
It will not only broadcast the handover events in Beijing and
London but also be used to show live footage from across the
whole carnival site.
The Park is best known as the official launch pad of the
Notting Hill Carnival where the the Steel Pan Competition was
held on Carnival Saturday Night until its move in 2007 to Hyde
Park.
Allyson Williams MBE, Interim Chair of London Notting Hill
Carnival Ltd, said: “No other event in the UK comes close to
matching the artistic spectacle of the Notting Hill
Carnival.It’s a vital cultural event for London, enjoyed by
visitors of many different ethnic, age and socio-economic
backgrounds.
“We are proud to be working alongside London 2012, with both
events demonstrating the capital’s ability to host world class
events.”
ABOUT THE VENUE: Emslie Horniman’s
Pleasance
The land here at Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance was donated to the London County Council
in 1911 by local politician Emslie J. Horniman, “the only
condition being that the land be dedicated in perpetuity to the
people of London as a recreation-ground”.
Horniman was inspired tocreate the park by Sister Ruth, a local
nun who worked with the poor of Kensal Town. He commissioned the
eminent architect Charles Voysey to design it. Charles Voysey
was a purist and high-minded, believing that good design was a
moral imperative and that simple design with good quality
materials and vernacular references equated with ideological
probity.
According to Voysey, identical living spaces (like the
Victorian terrace) restricted people's freedom by repressing
their individuality, which caused them to rebel.1
"No two leaves on any tree are ever alike. Variety
is nature's law. Thank heaven men are not all alike... why
then force us into symmetrical streets and houses, or
preconceived types of houses for supposed typical needs?
Why make us all behave alike, when, by our very natures, we
are forced to feel differently.
In 1998 a new children's play area and new toilets
were installed in the main park. The park also
contains an all-weather floodlit sports area, changing
rooms and several works of contemporary arts as well as a
catering kiosk during the summer months. It is also listed
on the London Mayor's wildlife habitat site "an attractive
park with a good range of wildlife habitats." 2
Entrance: Bosworth Road
Buses: 18, 23, 52, 70, 295, 316, 452
Tube Station: Westbourne Park
Transport: Train: Kensal
Green, Queens Park
Access: Free public access
(all/most of site)
Ownership: Royal Borough of
Kensington & Chelsea
1-
londongardenstrust.org/f
2-http://www.london.gov.uk/
3-http://news.bbc.co.uk/ |
| London in Beijing
2012 |
| Mayor Boris Johnson
became the center of a mini-media frenzy while in Beijing to
accept the flag and responsibility of hosting the 2012 Olympic
games. He told them; "We have been dazzled, we have been
impressed, we have been blown away by these games but we have
not been intimidated," he said. "I am absolutely convinced that
we can do the same without blowing the £9.3bn budget."
"There are issues to do with their managing to
attract football to the stadium but so far we have failed to do
that in London," Mr Johnson said.
Mayoral advisers raised the prospect of
London's Olympic stadium having a post-2012 capacity of 40,000,
which might reignite interest from a football club.
But that position threatens to put the mayor
at odds with Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of London 2012,
and the International Olympic Committee, both of whom want and
expect a 25,000-seater athletics stadium after the games, a
promise London made in its 2012 bid.
"In Athens, the country's medal total was 30,
which was fewer than nine other countries. But in Beijing, the
empire has bounced back," said Time Magazine.
This suddenly muscular showing augurs well: London will be the
site of the 2012 Summer Games, and the hosts-to-be want so much
for their athletes to distinguish themselves at home that
funding for competitive Olympic training programs - already
greatly improved over the last decade - is set to increase
further ahead of the event."
The London Games are supposed to leave a lasting legacy as far
as facilities and sports in general is concerned. The government
also hopes that sports will bring youngsters away from the
streets and into healthy eating habits.
As far as sports is concerned, London organizing committee
chairman Sebastian Coe, the two-time 1,500m gold medallist,
hopes that the Beijing showing can boost British sports beyond
London, just like Australia profited in this area from the
Sydney 2000 Games.
"We take our hats off to what has been done by the competitors,"
said Coe. "The Australians won more medals than in Athens
(2004)." |
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| Arts & Culture
2012 |
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Host of the
2016 Olympics |
The 2016 Summer Olympics,
officially known as the
Games of the XXXI
Olympiad will be announced at the 121st IOC Session (which will
also be the 13th Olympic Congress) to be held in Copenhagen,
Denmark, on October 2, 2009
Candidate cities
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| World Carnival
Capital Rio a finalist for the first time |
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| Rio de Janeiro is running up for the fourth
time. The other three attempts occurred during preparations for
the 1936, 2004, and 2012 Olympics. In none of them, though, had
the capital of the state of Rio gone past the first phase.
Seven cities were competing for a spot in the
final selection phase for hosting the 2016 Olympics. In the
latest cut, which were announced June 4 by the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), in Athens, Greece,Doha (Qatar), Prague
(Czech Republic) and Baku (Azerbaijan) were eliminated from the
competition.
[More @
rio2016.org.br ]
Visit Rio at Carnaval.com |
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