Panoramics from Stratford

Coming to London and fancy a piece of history, a 360 view of London and great shopping? Then head east to Stratford because until the end of June you can do something a little different and take a tour of the Olympic Park, which is currently being transformed into a permanent park for Londoners.

The park is now called the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, commemorating two significant events in 2012 - the London Olympic Games and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The Park in Progress tours are a behind the scenes visit to the Olympic Park construction site to witness the transformation as it happens.

There is also a certain entertainment element to the tour as you can opt to wear a high visibility vest and site hat on your tour. Unless the tours are very busy you’ll be able to go on a tour within a few minutes of arriving at the ‘site office’. After being driven a few short minutes away by bus you’ll reach the base of the ArcelorMittal Orbit which featured heavily in the Olympics – it’s the large red metal steel tower that was visible in almost every photo of the 2012 Games. It is the UK’s tallest sculpture and was built from 2,000 tonnes of steel. After taking a lift to the top you can explore the two platform areas of the structure with superb views of London all around. Once you’ve finished looking at the magnificent view you can take the lift down to the bottom or descend the spiral of several hundred steps which run around the outside of the Orbital. Watch those legs though; descending several hundred steps will turn them to jelly!

This tour really is capturing a unique moment in time as every day will give a different view of work on the Park as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park takes shape. As early as July the Park will begin to host concerts and sporting events. Into the future, the Park will host events such as the 2015 European Hockey Championships.

To get to there, simply head east on the Central Line. Stratford is just twenty minutes from Oxford Circus, and from there you can take a two minute DLR (tram) journey to Pudding Mill Lane DLR station where the tour begins nearby. After your tour head back to Stratford and explore Westfield Stratford City; the largest urban shopping centre in Europe and 1.9 million square feet of shops, restaurants and bars.

This legacy for Stratford was always planned. It’s been said that one of the main reasons London won the Olympic bid in July 2005 was due to legacy planned for the deprived area of Stratford, long after the Games were over. So far the London 2012 organisers are staying true to their word, and Stratford is indeed being transformed.

 

Tickets for Park in Progress are available most weekends until the end of June atwww.noordinarypark.co.uk/events, costing £15 

for adults and £7 for children.

 Explore a 360 degree view of the Olympic Park site @ noordinarypark.co.uk/360-park-tour

Red Nose Day 2013

Friday, 15th of March was Red Nose Day in the UK. Red Nose Day celebrated it's 25th anniversary this year, and is going from strength to strength as the years pass. An increasing number of celebrities give their time and resources to help promote the worthy cause through events on tv, radio and in person around the UK.

Red Nose Day itself consists of red noses, fun and fundraising. People in offices, schools and all kinds of other organisations club together to fundraise and transform the lives of countless people, both in the UK and across Africa. So far, £75,107,851 has been raised.

In my office we decided to pitch in and raise some money by having a Comic Relief bakeoff, raising a fantastic £112.39!

Lots of the crew baked up fabulous treats and cakes, which we sold for 50p each. Combined we had an incredible variety of delicious goodies including cakes, buns, brownies, savoury tartlets and oaty cookies.

Visiting the Houses of Parliament

This weekend I did something a little different and toured the Houses of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster, which sits next to Big Ben. It has been a palace for around 1000 years and home to Parliament for nearly 500 years.

The guided tour takes about 75 minutes and includes the Commons and Lords Chambers, the Queen's Robing Room, the Royal Gallery and Westminster Hall. The tour is tightly controlled for security reasons and there is only one place you can take photos on the tour: in Westminster Hall (pictured below). Work began on the great hall in 1097 and still stands tall and proud after numerous floods, fires and bombs over the centuries. Today, Westminster Hall is used for significant ceremonial events and remains one of the largest undivided medieval spaces in existence.

The tour travels through the many central lobbies, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. One of the odder facets of the tour was that you are not allowed to sit down or stand in the back row of seats in the Houses of Commons or Lords.

As an Irish person I was fascinated by the amount of shamrocks and harps on paintings and intricate detail on wood carvings. One such example was the Central Lobby. The Central Lobby is a lofty stone octagon with an intricately tiled floor, and a rich mosaic-covered vault. The very distinctive Central Tower is built over the Central Lobby, which forms the crossroads of the Palace: the spot where corridors from the Lords, Commons, and Westminster Hall meet. It was designed by Charles Barry, who symbolised his designs of the Palace with a Portcullis symbol, which remains to this day the official symbol of Parliament.

The arches surrounding the high windows of the Lobby are decorated with statues of kings and queens of England and Scotland from Edward I. Over each of the four exits from the Lobby are four large mosaic panels, depicting in turn the patron saint of each of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom: St George for England, St David for Wales, St Andrew for Scotland and St Patrick for Northern Ireland. Given that the entire island of Ireland was part of the UK until less than 100 years ago one could reasonably think the presence of St Patrick refers to more than just Northern Ireland. But such is the extent of the history in Westminster; it stretches back considerably further than recent political developments, which is rather sobering.

The beautiful stained glass window pictured below was a gift from Parliament to the Queen to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. The window is made of around 1,500 separate pieces and is designed by the British glass artist John Reyntiens. It is currently sitting in exhibit at ground level and will be put into place high over the Hall's entrance this year.

Tours lasting approx 75 mins run Saturdays throughout the year and during July, August and September they run everyday except Sunday. Tickets are available to buy from Ticketmaster.co.uk and cost £15 for adults and £6 for children.

Banksy: Still Not Returned to Haringey

This story, unfortunately, rumbles on. Although it's taking a clear backseat to events in South Africa, time is fast running out to get the Banksy artwork back from the Miami auction house that intends to sell it on Saturday.

The real question remains, who authorised it's removal and who is set to cash in when it's sold? The public are clearly still not very happy about this, with a new hashtag #bringbackBanksy appearing on Twitter:

Look what's appeared at the scene of the missing Banksy: ow.ly/i/1ykyO #bringbackBanksy
— Haringey Council (@haringeycouncil) February 20, 2013

According to media outlets today Haringey Council has written to the UK's Art's Council asking them to stop the sale and order the return of the artwork to its original home in London. The Guardian today quoted Haringey councillor Alan Strickland as saying 'we still have not got confirmation that this piece was removed legitimately... the community feels that this art work was given to it for free, and that it should be kept in Haringey where it belongs, not sold for a fast buck'

Haringey Council calls on Arts Council to see what they can do to help #bringbackBanksy ow.ly/hSndH
— Haringey Council (@haringeycouncil) February 20, 2013

Meanwhile, Fine Art Auctions Miami is standing by it's original stance that the seller is a well-known collector who signed a contract that everything is 'above board'. The fact that they would even say that in my mind is a indictment that perhaps everything is not, above board. 

The real question remains; with all the negativity surrounding this piece of artwork, will anyone actually buy it on Saturday morning?

Previous blog post about this Banksy piece is here

Banksy goes to Florida

Londoners are in a bit of a strop today over the apparent theft/ legal but nasty removal of a piece of Banksy artwork from a North London street. Somehow this piece of art by the prolific but anonymous street artist has turned up on an auction listing in Miami. Yep that's right, bizarre and yet true.

The story goes that this beautiful piece of street art by Banksy appeared prior to the Queen's Jubilee in June 2012 on a street in Wood Green. The image depicted a young boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting, and ironically or not, appeared on the side of a Poundland building.

Residents noticed the piece had been 'removed' and replaced with fresh concrete after temporary scaffolding was taken away at the weekend.

Poundland, who occupy the building, say they didn't have anything to do with it, and Hackey Council is investigating if the removal is legal. Needless to say it's hard to imagine this piece of artwork will come back to London unless Banksy steps out of the shadows to say the work was intended for the enjoyment of Londoners and not for a money making cash grab.

A quick look at Fine Art Auctions website in Miami shows the Banksy piece will be sold as part of the 'MODERN, CONTEMPORARY AND STREET ART' lot, which includes Asian, Latin American, American, European Artists and Street Art. The art house claims everything is above board, but something does seem a little fishy with it all.

With an estimated price tag of £320,000 - £452,000 it seems unlikely that Londoners will see this artwork back in their hands before the auction is held this weekend, on Saturday 23rd February.

Link to Banksy art work: http://www.banksy.co.uk/

Mission Completed!

It was a long month but Dryathlon is finally over! In hindsight the month passed quite quickly, but I know at the time it very much felt like it was dragging on! I do love red wine and it was very difficult to not enjoy some, particularly a few moments where I received good news and would have normally celebrated with a nice glass of vino rouge. But it was a very enjoyable experience, and aside from raising money for charity it was actually very pleasant doing a month without alcohol. I can definitely see why some people choose to give it up for good.

The drink that broke my alcohol fast was a simple Carlsberg. Followed by some delicious red wine at a local pub near my office.

I raised a total of £162 from 17 donations including a very kind donation from strangers in my local pub. But on the larger scale it all comes down to this great graphic by Cancer Research UK...

A sincere thank you to everyone who donated!

The Last Weekend of Dry

I'm happy to report I've made it through the last weekend of Dryathlon unscathed. It's not been the easiest but I can only claim it's been very difficult if I put into into the 'first world' problem bucket! When you think of the illnesses that people have to deal with in life giving up wine and beer for a month is really not a big sacrifice.

35,000 people throughout the UK have been taking part in the first annual Dryathlon- a dry month in aid of Cancer Research UK.

This new ad for CRUK is a lovely reminder of why Dryathlon is taking place:



Feel like donating? Just click below or text FION86 £_ to 70070 from any UK mobile.