This year's London 2012 Open Weekend was the biggest to date in the West Midlands, with 106,000 people attending events marking one year to go until the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games - double the expected audience.
60 events took place around the West Midlands from Friday 22 to Sunday 23 July. Highlights included Jamaica Live! in central Birmingham, a pop-up festival celebrating the Jamaican team’s visit to the city in 2012; The Great Train Dance on the Severn Valley Railway and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Park, a free concert of orchestral music performed in Telford Town Park.
Paul Kaynes, Creative Programmer for the West Midlands, said: “The people of the West Midlands have turned out in their droves for the London 2012 Open Weekend, to mark one year to go until the start of the Olympic Games. It shows that you can have your own experience of London 2012 on your own doorstep – not only through sport, but through arts and culture, and celebrations in your own community. It bodes well for 2012 when even more people will want to join in.”
With the support of BP, Premier Partner of the Cultural Olympiad and long-standing supporter of arts and culture in the UK, the London 2012 Open Weekend is now in its fourth year.
Open Weekend 2011 follows the success of the past three previous years, in which over 2.4 million people across the UK unleashed their creativity across a series of sporting, art and cultural activities in celebration of the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
To find out how you can get involved in London 2012 inspired projects in the West Midlands contact www.wmfor2012.com and to tell us how you are already involved post your story at www.facebook.com/thegamesandme.