It has been a very busy week for the
Village and there is a lot of activity going on behind the
scenes, not only in relation to the build of the facility,
but also as to how we use it.
Last Wednesday there was a really
interesting meeting at the Turnpike when our Arts
Consultant, Christian Barnes (www.christianbarnes.co.uk)
gave his first public presentation. Christian is a real
‘find’. He is highly respected in the arts world and
hopefully his preliminary work with us will grow over time.
He has delivered some really interesting concepts and
suggestions and I thought I would try to summarise some of
his thoughts.
Christian’s view is that the different
buildings on the LSV site are like the organs of the body
and that the green and open space in between the buildings,
which equates to about 70% of the site, is the connective
tissue.
He also sees that the Village is
inextricably linked to Pennington Flash and eventually the
redeveloped Bickershaw. He maintains that such areas are a
realm that one can visit as of right. He therefore hopes
that the environment and the landscaping can be completed in
such a way that it makes people want to visit the site and
then, whilst there, just enjoy it.
What we don’t want to see is some
soulless car parks surrounding the different buildings as
you can see at the JJB Stadium and at Eastlands.
Christian’s thoughts have been well
received by all the various bodies and I think that we can
deliver his ideas. We have already started along this route
with the branding of the area which will be known as
“Pennington Park”. Thus we will have “Leigh Sports Village
at Pennington Park”, with both names being associated with
the gold medal and red ribbon logo that has been designed by
local designer Paul Pugh on behalf of the development team.
The idea behind the logo is to signify the intention to
create a top class, “gold medal” standard of facility and
make Leigh the place to be for sport and active leisure.
The other main part of his vision is that
what we are trying to achieve really does link up with the
2012 Olympics. As well as the medal logo, the 12th
May was a great reminder for us all when we carried out a
sod-cutting ceremony for the gymnasium, sports hall and
swimming pool with Paralympian Chris Pugh, a local lad from
Leigh who won a silver medal at the Sidney Olympics.
Christian has supplied me with a document
produced by the London 2012 Candidate City and I have
reproduced, with kind permission of the Chair of their Arts,
Culture and Education Committee Jude Kelly, some really
interesting quotes that I think completely mirror what we
are trying to do at the Village. The document is entitled:
The Olympics is
the Wedding of Sport and Art
Pierre de
Coubertin 1863 – 1937
In the introduction Jude Kelly
thoughtfully goes on to say,
“The Olympic movement is
one of the greatest acts of human imagination and will the
world has ever known. At its heart is the desire for world
peace and unity between sports, culture and education. No
other movement has so powerfully captured the human heart
for positive purpose.
“Pierre de
Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement,
mirrored the classical Greeks in maintaining that the
purpose of the Olympic Games was to celebrate mind, body and
spirit.
“When London
bids for the Olympic Games and Paralympics Games it bids to
contribute to the journey of the Olympic movement; it bids
to preserve the right for human beings to have dreams – and
to turn them into action.
“The vision
for London’s bid is that sport, culture and education would
come together for the biggest celebration we have ever known
across the United Kingdom.
“Until 1948
medals were awarded for sculpture, music, literature and
art. We believe the role of the arts in the Olympic
movement has increasing importance as young people seek to
achieve excellence and explore their role in the world
through expressiveness in all creative fields.”
I think you will agree that those
sentiments beautifully encapsulate the ethos of what we have
been trying to do at the Village and Christian’s thoughts
help us along that road. Sometimes you have ideas but can’t
quite find the right words to express them. We are very
grateful to our colleagues from the arts world in helping us
articulate what it is we are trying to do.
Further on in the document is another
piece that goes on to show how the artistic concept can
translate into physical activity and the engagement of our
young people.
“No
man is an island entire of itself; everyman is a piece of
the continent and part of the maine” John Donne
1572 – 1631
“Donne’s
poem still inspires us. The United Kingdom is an island
with a rich maritime history and we want to connect to the
world afresh. We want to make new and lasting friendships
within our own communities and across the world.
“If London is
chosen to host the 2012 Games we propose to bring the
Olympic spirit to life through the Olympic FriendShip. This
would be an ocean-going clipper launched at the close of the
Beijing Games in 2008, where the theme of the Closing
Ceremony is ‘Sail Onwards in Hope’. Crewed by young
artists, scientists, environmentalists and students, the
FriendShip would make a four-year global voyage of
discovery. In each port, the ship would spark a
mini-cultural and educational festival, where the crew would
exchange ideas and build new relationships.
“Schools and
organisations all over the UK would prepare for this journey
by working with artists and cultural organisations to create
a ‘cargo of ideas’ for the ship. They would load the
FriendShip with objects that speak of our nation, our
history, our sense of identity and our hopes for the
future. In this way the international cultural exchange
will be rich in the contemporary life of the UK.
“A four-year
Virtual FriendShip would be launched on the web.
Schoolchildren across Britain would sail virtually on the
ship, connecting with other young people in schools around
the globe.
The Olympic
FriendShip.”
I hope that we have some of our young
people either at the Olympics of the Paralympics and before
that actually on the Olympic FriendShip.
At the end of the document it says:
“In
the wake of the World War II, London was honoured to offer
the Olympic movement a home for the Games in 1948.
“In 2012, at a
time of significant global change, the UK would be honoured
to host again the Olympic Games and Paralympics Games on
behalf of the world. With young people at the heart of our
cultural celebrations, we seek to nurture the inspiration of
Pierre de Coubertin’s vision.
“A
final characteristic of the Olympics must be Beauty, through
the participation in the Games of the arts and thought. For
surely, one cannot celebrate the festival of the human
springtime without inviting the mind to it.”
Christian’s view is that, if we were able
to shape the landscape to meet all the above aspirations and
to concentrate our time and money in buying in performers,
visual artists and carnival artists we should be able to
develop a strong link between the place and the community it
serves. This will ensure that sports clubs and cultural
groups will share this new resource.
He and I both feel that money spent in
this way would be of much more use to our community than say
the Angel of the North or B of the Bang.
If we could achieve this, this would be a
national first.
General Issues
and Timescales
On Thursday, 11th May, 2006
there was the Principals Meeting and there are some
interesting developments to report.
As you are aware the University of
Manchester is carrying out some preliminary digs in
Rothwell’s Wood, which is the site of Etherstone Old Hall.
This is supposed to be the site of a 14th Century
hall with a walled garden. It would appear that they have
found some bits of medieval pottery and we await further
developments with interest as we are still hopeful that we
could promote some intergenerational activity.
The developers have exchanged contracts
with a large building company, which means that there are
now no outstanding conditions or caveats to the project
being completed.
As regards Leigh East’s new pavilion, the
shell is now complete and the internal works and fit-out are
ongoing as is the provision of car parks and the road to
it. It looks as if, subject to services being completed, it
will be ready for occupation at the end of July or the
beginning of August.
The work on the roads is being conducted
by McAlpines on behalf of the Project Developer, Greenbank
Partnerships, and the infrastructure work has really
exploded into activity. When I was there yesterday there
were diggers and scrapers and earth being moved across the
whole site and it really is a hive of activity. I am sorry
for the people being a little delayed on the by-pass as a
result of the one-way system, but I hope you feel it is
worthwhile in the light of this £70M investment.
The work to the pool and gymnasium and
the college has just started. It is hoped that the college
will be finished by the end of March next year and that the
pool, gymnasium and sports hall will be finished by the end
of May.
Work on Leigh Harriers clubhouse has had
to be delayed a little, although the work on the track, etc.
is starting. A water main has to be moved and there is a
high voltage cable that also needs to be shifted and of
course, it is Sod’s Law that some of the tree’s roots have
managed to entwine themselves around the cable. So we await
United Utilities to perform a much required and very
expensive small miracle.
The computer generated images of the
stadium seem to have attracted universal approval and the
tender for the stadium has now been submitted.
The application for the Leigh and
District Sports Partnership to become a charitable trust is
now back with the Charity Commissioners and there is a whole
mass of work taking place between ourselves, the developers,
the LSV Stadium Company, the Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust
and the Council to hit the ground running with all sorts of
activities when it is all complete by the end of next year.
The sod-cutting ceremony yesterday was to
mark the start on the gymnasium, sports hall and swimming
pool and it was nice to see, in particular, Lord Smith,
Leader of the Council and Andy Burnham MP there. All of us
at the Partnership are thankful for their continued
enthusiastic support and we would like, at this stage, to
offer our congratulations to Andy on his appointment and
promotion to Health Minister.
Trevor Barton.
13th May, 2006.
