Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has been awarded £500,000 from Sport England’s Community Sport Activation Fund to get people in and around the Park more active, more often. Following on from a successful pilot project, which attracted over 3,000 people, the Active People, Active Park programme is expected to reach more than 90,000 people over the next three years.

Active People, Active Park will bring people of all ages and backgrounds together to try new sports, encouraging increased levels of physical activity. The programme is broken into three strands and comprises activities for young people, families and adults.

• Your Space programme for 14-25 year olds will see a mixture of sport and physical activity delivered through holiday and term time sessions. Young people, including the Legacy Corporation’s Youth Panel, will input into the content of the activities.
• Family fun sessions will build on a range of existing projects and activities and will be geared towards the whole family.
• Have A Go taster sessions will be delivered to attract adults who may not have played sports before, or those who used to regularly play sport but may have lapsed.

Dennis Hone, Chief Executive, London Legacy Development Corporation, said: “Active People, Active Park will offer local residents, of all ages and abilities, a huge range of opportunities to get active – right on their doorstep.  This pioneering programme will see tens of thousands of people try new sports and take up old sports in and around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The Park is now fully open and we encourage everyone to come and explore this new heart of east London – especially on 8 June when we will be holding a Festival of Sport on the Park.”

Mike Diaper, Sport England Director of Community Sport, said: “I’m really pleased our investment in the London Legacy Development Corporation will get people of all ages taking advantage of the fantastic facilities at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to get into sport. Our Community Sport Activation Fund is making a real difference at a very local level and this latest investment is just another way we’re helping more people develop a sporting habit for life.”

The funding from Sport England will be awarded to 20 delivery partners, made up of the London Legacy Development Corporation, the four boroughs bordering the Park, three leisure providers, five national governing bodies and seven local sports organisations. Local volunteers will be trained to be ‘Park Activators,’ advocating the project and encouraging local communities to participate. 

Sport is at the heart of activity on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and some Active People, Active Park activity has already taken place. The inaugural East London Mini Marathon brought together 250 young athletes from the boroughs of Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest. Thousands came to the Park to run, swim and cycle as part of Sport Relief in March and hundreds took part in ‘have a go’ cricket sessions run by Essex Cricket. Young people put their penalty taking skills to the test as part of informal drills run by West Ham United Community Sports Trust. More than 240 local school children have taken part in the Diving Legacy programme linked to the FINA World Diving Series, while 656 young people had a taste of indoor rowing last week. 

For further information on Active People, Active Park visit http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/our-story/get-involved/community-sport

-Ends -

For more information contact the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Press Office on +44 (0) 20 3734 9010 or email press@QueenElizabethOlympicPark.co.uk 

Notes to Editors

Active People, Active Park is delivered in partnership with England Athletics, English Table Tennis Association, Fre Flyers, London Youth Rowing, Triathlon England, Age UK, Barry McGuigan Boxing Academy, British Orienteering, Essex Cricket, Volleyball England, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, London Legacy Development Corporation, London borough of Hackney, London Borough of Newham, London Borough of Waltham Forest, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, YMCA Fit, Sport Leaders UK, Take 12, West Ham United Community Sports Trust, UEL, Active Newham. 

London’s newest visitor destination, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is a place unlike any other. The south of the Park will is now open. 

Visitors to the Park can enjoy beautiful parklands and waterways, world-famous sporting venues, arts and events and spectacular views from the ArcelorMittal Orbit.

As a new heart for east London, the Park will also provide new homes, jobs and a cultural and education quarter.

The London Legacy Development Corporation promotes and delivers physical, social, economic and environmental regeneration in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the surrounding area, in particular by maximising the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

For more information follow us on Twitter @noordinarypark and like us on Facebook.

Sport England

The Community Sport Activation Fund was designed to meet much-needed demand by local authorities, charities and other organisations for funding for innovative projects that will get more people playing sport. 

To find out more and to apply, visit http://www.sportengland.org/funding/our-different-funds/community-sport-activation-fund/

Sport England is focused on helping people and communities across the country create a sporting habit for life. We will invest over £1 billion of National Lottery and Exchequer funding between 2012 and 2017 in organisations and projects that will:

• Help more people have a sporting habit for life
• Create more opportunities for young people to play sport
• Nurture and develop talent
• Provide the right facilities in the right places
• Support local authorities and unlock local funding
• Ensure real opportunities for communities.

The National Lottery has been changing lives for 18 years.  Every week National Lottery players raise over £30 million to help change people's lives across the UK.