Our Olympic Dream Lives On – Interview with Cecilia

Cecilia

I’ve lived in Newham for many years now. Before I retired I was a nurse.

I heard about the 2012 Olympics on TV and as soon as I heard the news, my husband and I were very excited about it.

Before the Games there was the Olympic Torch Relay. The torch was escorted along the way from central London to Newham. It arrived in Beckton, near where the Asda supermarket is, and into the big park. We saw people running and chasing along the way, there were so many happy faces and loud cheers. I was with a small group of people from the Newham Chinese Association that day, we went along to see the torch and soak up this tremendous atmosphere. Each of us held a small flag given by Newham Council and we waved the flags at the torch bearers and the escort team. One side of the flag had the word Newham, the other side has the words London 2012.

It was a sunny day, sunshine was everywhere, people were cheering on the convoy of vehicles escorting the torch. Everyone was thrilled and they shouted loudly to cheer them on. Olympic Games are held every four years, but it was the first time the torch came to Newham so we were quick to take photos for our photo albums.

It was a special day to remember. We have now kept the flags as archival items!

I didn’t have a ticket to go inside the stadium to watch the events – I watched the events on TV and took some photos from the TV screen. What I enjoyed most was the moment when the Queen jumped down from the helicopter. The Queen jumped down from the helicopter! How strange! I don’t remember if it was part of the opening ceremony or the closing ceremony now, but it was part of a ceremony anyway. It was so thrilling to see this! That was a very clever trick indeed. That was the best show of the ceremony. There were many different shows that evening, but this was the best one I can remember. There were singing and dancing shows, too – the show about the NHS doctors and nurses with the beds and so on. I can still remember the colour used for the beds and the nurses’ uniforms; I don’t know why they used light blue colour uniforms. I think that particular show wanted to tell people that our NHS is the best in the West, and that the NHS made a huge contribution to the country and for every one of us.

Four years earlier I watched the Beijing 2008 opening ceremony on TV. I think the London 2012 Games opening ceremony was probably less impressive than the Beijing one. But compared with other Olympic opening ceremonies held in other countries, I have to say that our opening ceremony in London looked better than many of the past ones I’d seen previously.

Talking about the changes in London and Newham as a result of the Olympics, I think the tube system has been transformed for the better. If you look at the underground station in Whitechapel, you can see how it has changed London. The Whitechapel station is superb!

For me, the biggest change in Newham is the building of the Olympic Park. There wasn’t such a park there before the 2012 Games, it was just a vast area of wasteland. Now, you can walk in the park for leisure, you can take a walk there and do exercises. You can walk for a hundred thousand steps in the morning for two hours. The environment and the views that surround you are superb, it’s such a huge park. Along the small walks you can enjoy the trees, the grass and the flowers as you walk along – it’s such a picturesque landscape. This is an obvious result of the London 2012 Olympic Games. From a wasteland to a beautiful park, it has transformed this part of London forever for the better. This is the most enjoyable legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Since the London 2012 Olympics, West Ham Football club has moved out from its previous home-ground to the Olympics stadium. The old West Ham ground has been demolished and new buildings have been erected there, these are residential apartments.

Stratford has changed in many ways, too. The bus routes, the public transport system as a whole and the local environment have been improved by the work done for the Olympics. The fact that so many people have now moved into Stratford has something to do with the Olympics.

Beckton used to be a wasteland, too, but now many new buildings are built there. These buildings would not be built there were it not for the improved public transport systems. As a result, there are many more new faces in Newham. A friend of mine bought a house in Beckton, too, she bought it even before the building work was completed. Many new migrants have moved to Newham, they come to make their homes here. I’ve been living on the same street for decades, but when I first moved in, most of my neighbours were English. Now a large proportion of my neighbours are from Eastern Europe and other places.