One Hackney Festival and the Olympic Torch Relay

There are just seven days until the Olympic Games start and there is one more day before the One Hackney festival when Hackney will welcome the Olympic Torch to the borough.

The parade will kick off at 10.30am in Hoxton at Pitfield Street before it heads off up Whitemore Road and Stamford Road to Kingsland Road.

The parade will then continue north to Stoke Newington Road and Stoke Newington High Street before turning left into Stoke Newington Church Street at around 12.30.

The Olympic Torch is then expected to arrive in the borough at 15.50 in Shoreditch.  It will then travel up to Dalston, onto Stoke Newington before going onto Hackney Central, and along Homerton Road, past Mabley Green and Hackney Marshes.

Please remember that buses will be suspended outside Hackney Town Hall as large crowds will be expected there.

Road will also be closed to allow the One Hackney parade and the Olympic Torch to pass through the borough.  The following roads will be closed for the parade from 10.30am:

• Pitfield Street
• Whitemore Road
• De Beauvoir Road
• Stamford Road
• A10 Junction with Richmond Road to Stoke Newington Church Street (northbound)

Due to the One Hackeny Parade, the following parking bays will also be suspended from 00.01 until 19.00 on 21 July.

• Pitfield Street - All bays on the western side on the section between junction with Mintern Street and Hoxton Street. 
• Whitmore Road - All bays on western side entire length 
• De Beauvoir Road - All bays on western side from Whitmore Road up to junction with Englefield Road 
• Stamford Road - All bays on western side between Englefield Road and A10 Kingsland Road. 
• Stoke Newington Church Street -Parking on Stoke Newington Church Street will be suspended from 9:00 to 17:00 

For further information on the One Hackney Festival, please read FAQs about the festival.

If you were planning to attend the event at Clissold Park, please not that this will not now take place as the event site is waterlogged and has been deemed unsafe. Anyone who booked tickets for this event is being contacted. The Parade will run as planned along the same 2.8 mile route, ending at Stoke Newington.

Travel in Hackney During the London 2012 Games

The London 2012 Games start in less then two weeks and 1 million visitors are expected in London throughout the duration of the Games.

Roads and public transport will be busy across the capital and The Olympic and Paralympic Route Network and Games Lanes will connect venues, accommodation and transport hubs.

Although there will be significant changes will be to Homerton Road and the Eastway, other areas of the borough will also be affected.

There will be a number of road events during the Olympic and Paralympic Games and streets will be closed.  Although events will not take place in Hackney, City Road, Old Street and Great Eastern Street will be used as an alternative route for athletes, officials, workers and media when road events take place on the Olympic Route Network.  These will take place on 28 and 29 July and 4,5,7,11 and 12 August.  When the road events are in operation, changes to the roads will include longer parking and stopping restrictions and switching off some pedestrian crossing signals.

The Olympic Route Network will generally be in operation and enforced between 6am and midnight though there will be some changes to times of operation. Transport for London have warned that any vehicles that are driven, load, park or stop illegally on ORN/PRN will be removed and will face £130 Penalty Charge Notice.  I have spoken to transport for London and have been informed that cyclists will also receive PCN if they cycle in the ORN/PRN during times of operation.

For more information on how transport will be affected during the Games, please visit the Get Ahead of the Games website where you can sign up for email alerts at Games time.  You can also follow @GAOTG on Twitter or call 0843 222 1234 for details.

Jobs at the Olympics

There's good news if you are 16 or over and looking for a job at the Olympics. Hackney Council is offering support to all Hackney residents age 16+ to apply for Olympic Games-time jobs. From now until the end of March, Hackney Ways into Work employment advisers will be running job application sessions at Springboard, The Levy Centre, 18 – 24 Lower Clapton Road, E5 0PD. The centre will be operating 3 days per week: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays. Hackney residents wishing to book application sessions should call the Ways into Work team on 020 8356 5700 (Olympic Jobs Hotline).

Hackney One Carnival 27th September

The Hackney One Carnival, Hackney's main Cultural Olympiad activity, will take place on Sunday and will celebrate the diverse cultures that make Hackney so special.

The Route
The Carnival procession will start from the Town Hall at 11.30am, going north along Mare Street, Amhurst Road, Pembury Road and Hackney Downs Park. Arriving at Downs Park at approximately 12.30pm.

Sixteen Carnival groups will be taking part and the majority are a mixture of local community and voluntary sector groups and small enterprises. Each carnival group will contain 20 – 40 carnival participants. The groups' participants would consist of a wide range of Hackneys residents from all age groups, cultures and inclusive of disabled persons. With in Hackney there are some organisations that are not able to fully participate in the Carnival procession, so there is the opportunity for them to make a cultural offering at the park. They will be able to showcase their heritage/culture through their preferred medium such as dance, song poetry or theatre.

Volunteers and stewards
The event is providing volunteering opportunities for up to 50 individuals who have been drawn from the graduates from the Hackney 2012 Personal Best volunteering programme and it will give them invaluable work experience and form part of their accreditation assessment. The event will also be assisted by 30 professional stewards who will ensure safety measures along the the route.

Hackney 2012 Youth Ambassadors who are all young Hackney residents and have been part of a programme of peer to peer education and advocacy for the 2012 games and the opportunities available will also be actively involved in the day's events. They will support many of the activities will be taking place in the park.

Activities at Downs Park
Sporting activities for all abilities

All of the activities listed below will be available for Hackney's resident to participate in. There will be traditional sporting games that are intergenerational and fun. This will be delivered by the 2012 Unit and the 2012 Sports Coaches and school children that have taken part in the "2012 Personal Best" programme across Hackney.

Activities will include:

• Hackney's fastest man/woman
• Personal Bests
• Olympic sports – Discus, Shot putt, Javelin, Sprints
• Traditional sports events
• Egg and spoon race
• Sack race
• Wheelbarrow race
• Bean bag race
• Obstacle race
• Adults and Children's races
• Children's play/ activity area.

Audio Interview with Hackney's 2012 Olympic Champion, Dervish Konuralp

Dervish Konuralp is Hackney's Ambassador for the 2012 Olympics. He is also a Hackney resident and on 16 September he attended the full council meeting in Hackney Town Hall and agreed to be first interviewee on the newly launched Hoxton Labour audioBoo, which is a new online recording facility.

Dervish answered questions about being an Ambassador, volunteering for the 2012 Olympics and sporting facilities in the borough. You can listen to his interview below or by clicking here.

"A Host for 2012 - The London Olympic and Paralympic Games"

Useful Numbers

• 24 hr construction Hotline 080000 722 110
• Hackney 2012 Team 020 8356 3126
• Job Opportunities 020 7241 7080

Web sites

• Boost Job Opportunities
• Hackney Olympic Unit
• 2012 Olympics
• 2012 Blog
• Olympic Delivery Authority

2008 Highlights

• The Olympic Flag will be handed to London and the closing of the Beijing 2008 Games
• Five host boroughs will take centre stage with a new annual summer cultural festival
• Main venue construction will begin and run through to 2011
• Five host boroughs and the Olympic Delivery Authority will engage residents on post-2012 planning

2009 Highlights

• Procurement starts for the delivery of Games services
• New phase of opportunities for residents to work in areas such as construction, culture, tourism and transport
• Work will get underway to improve the Marshes for football and community use

2010 Highlights

• East London Line Extension Line to Dalston Opens
• North London Line Improvements
• Jobs on the Games site reaches its peak at 20,000
• Hackney Marshes improved pitches and new changing rooms will be completed
• Official volunteering programme for the 2012 Games will be launched

2011 Highlights

• East London Line to Highbury will be completed
• Football on East Marsh will transfer to the main Marshes until 2013
• Hackney Schools active in local and national volunteering programme
• Venues for the Games will be completed and test events will be staged

2012 and Beyond

• Olympic and Para Olympic Games in July, August and September
• Host boroughs will celebrate with a Cultural Olympiad open to everyone in East London
• East Marsh will be returned for football in 2013 with a new bridge connecting the Marshes to the Olympic Park and sports facilities
• The Legacy phase begins for Hackney and the Lower Lea Valley including a new Park, new neighbourhood and employment area
• 2012 and beyond - legacy benefits will provide new opportunities for Hackney

Details taken from the Mayor of Hackney's "A Host for 2012"