Mammoth Steppes to promote peace and unity.

Redbridge Carnival Association will be holding a one week free arts taster session for children aged 5-11.  
The workshops will celebrate the 150th anniversary of  both Sir Antonio Brady's discovery of mammoth 
remains in Ilford and remember the impact of the Great War, which started 100 years ago next year.

Times:    12:00 - 16:00
Dates:     Monday 28th October - Friday 1st November 2013
Venue:    Clementswood Community Centre, Connaught Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 1RN

Event:     Paper mache, drawing arts and historical review workshops.  
Ages:      5 - 11

We are going to explore the pre-historical Ilford Steppe Mammoth and make a replica using paper mache.  

We will  also explore the story of the Great War and seek ways to change society for the better, starting with our community. Various poppy flowers will be created to mark the remembrance day (11th November)
and message of peace, hope and unity will be attached.  Poppies will be made using various media
for example textiles, plastic, paper in an attempt to espouse recycling.  The best art work form both
sessions will be used tocreate a collage that will be submitted to the council to be used in their celebrations.
We will also place some of the poppies in South Park to share our work with the wider community.

Please come and join in this exciting project.  Call Wilson Chowdhry on 020 8514 0861 or email:

redbridgecarnival@yahoo.co.uk  for more details or to register your child.

What legacy has the Olympics left for Britain, London or more specifically Redbridge?

Wilson Chowdhry and Lord Sebastian Coe.

Friday 26th July saw the opening of the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games, a three day athletics competition held at the Stratford Olympic Stadium and televised fairly globally.  But has been the real legacy of the Olympics for our country and more specifically local people?

While attending the event on Friday I met with Lord Cole Chairman of the British Olympic Committee, only for a few seconds I must add, but the chance meeting and his welcoming nature got me thinking.

After some research I found that hosting the Olympics cost Britain around £9bn and the Guardian states this is under the revised budget, that came about after the Previous Labour Government initially got things complete;y wrong with a  bid of £2.4bn:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/oct/23/london-2012-olympics-cost-total

I believe we can take this as good news.  Moreover, a report Published by the BBC suggests that two thirds of our country believe the Olympic games were a success, whilst 74% would welcome a return of the games to Britain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/23434844

Having held a strong reluctance to the games being hosted in London until the beginning of 2012, I myself was very surprised in how I found myself absorbed into the euphoria surrounding the games.  The games become a symbol of national pride and too late to purchase any decent tickets for the games, I found myself joining hundreds in Ilford Town Centre who watched the games on the Ilford BID team funded large TV screens.  The atmosphere was electric and the company was diverse, friendly and passionate.

After the Olympics Britain's success created a sense of great achievement and stirred many local people, I was involved with conversations about the games, for at least two months after the Paralympics had completed.

Assessing the benefits of the Olympics however will by necessity require subjective or qualitative data.  However, it cannot be denied that since the Gold medal achieved by Andrew Murray he went on to win two Grand Slam Tournaments, including this years Wimbledon Final, making him the first British male winner since Fred Perry 76 years ago.  This adds to the huge success in the games themselves that led to the biggest haul since 1908, including an expectation beating 29 gold medals.

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187363/London-2012-Olympics-saw-Team-GB-men-women-clinch-29-Olympic-gold-medals.html

London has achieved some great new venues and the fact that the deal with West Ham was concluded so soon, with a proviso that the venue is adapted to continue hosting athletics event and concerts, is comforting.

Attendance at the Olympic Stadium on Friday illustrated to me that their is a strong passion for sport in this country.  Over 70,000 people attended what in all seriousness should have been a low key event.  The event was featured on BBC 1 and Channel 4 and high profile athletes, the likes of Mo Farah and Usain Bolt took part. Moreover, the British Women's 100m relay team won gold in the best time for 12 years.

Funded programmes like Redbridge CVS's "Fit for Fun" have brought free sporting activities to tackle obesity in our local community.  At the EIBP's own Community Centre, we have been holding free Bollywood Dancing for children, Zumba Classes for women under this programme and will start providing free Gymnastics classes to children from next year using funds from a "Help a Capital Child" Grant. There has been so much funding towards sports in this country to inspire an Olympic legacy, that I personally believe we will not truly recognise the benefits of the 2012 games for another 10 years at least.

If you would like to join any of the fitness programmes currently running at our community centre, please get in contact.

Crowds move towards the stadium.  Stratford was busy!

 Winners of Mens B 100m Race.

Usain Bolt parades around event on rocket!

Few seats were empty in the stadium.

A magnificent stadium.

British Women's 100m relay team deservingly win great praise and media attention.

Usain Bolt after winning 100m race..

Redbridge Community Awards

Our Redbridge Community Awards aim to recognise outstanding community work and extraordinary achievement by individuals, groups and communities in our Borough.

Nominations for the awards for this year have now opened with a deadline of the 29th October 2012 for completed returns. We'll be writing to those who have been successful shortly after this date. Nominations must be made by another party; self-nominations will not be accepted.

Remember these are Community Awards so simply being good at sports or music is not enough.  There must be a valid contribution to the local community!

Independent Judges include:

Anja Beinroth - East London Community Foundation

Kevin Todd - Yellow Advertiser

Chief Inspector Elaine Casey

Richard Firth - Wanstead and Woodford Guardian

A representative from Redbridge Faith Forum
Darren Trippick - Redbridbge Sports Development

A special reception with late night celebratory music event will be held on Friday 9th November 2012 for all successful nominations at Ilford Town Hall. Nominees will be provided with a free ticket,  tickets for other visitors will be sold an a priority basis.

Live entertainment on the Night will include:

Electropop band Ooberfuse 

Redbridge School Of Gymnastics

Shin Cobra - Punjabi Singer formerly with 80's London Punjabi Band Cobra

Shpresa Albanian Dancers

Davinder Bedi - Featured Artist on BBC Asian Network

Dholl Academy

Download the Application here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1uhi1txZxlhMzl1dUVqcHA2a3c/edit

Or for a word version which can be electronically submitted email  wilson@aasecurity.co.uk for an application.

Brave-hearted performers beat the rain at school fete!

Redbridge School of Gymnastics entertained the biggest crowd during the sunniest part of the day!

Shin Cobra got everyone dancing!

The local Catholic School simply got Punjabified!

A dance competition resulted in a clear winner!

Shin Cobra wowed everyone!

Live singing during a sunny spell -it was awesome!

Go for it Shin!

Despite reports of poor weather SS Peter's and Paul's School at Gordon Road, Ilford, decided to proceed with a pre-planned summer fete Saturday 7th July 2012.  Early signs looked ominous with the build up of grey clouds the most visible blight on an otherwise exciting day.  It seemed like the weather forecasters had got it wrong, when a short rain spell at 11:30 stopped after 5 minutes and the sun sprang out intent on bringing joyous heat and light to the fortunate event.

Disaster struck at 12:30 just as the event started as a heavy downpour clearly limited the number of visitors - who numbered barely fifty and forced early performers into the school hall - this included Sally's Dance Academy from Ilford Lane and a crystal ball juggler dressed as Tinkerbell.  The only positive was that by this time over 100 visitors had arrived to the event, creating a rather cramped space in the hall however.  

Stall holders were sure it was going to be a poor result for them until the rain stopped at 14:00.   Encouraged by this I cajoled Stephanie Thomas instructor for Redbridge School of Gymnastics to drag the mats she had set up inside the hall to drag them outside for a performance.  As if by magic the sun shone gloriously and their enthralling performance was watched by a huge crowd in excess of 100 people.  

As they dragged the mats back inside for a set of free workshops for children, the rain started again.  Then Shin Cobra arrived.  He was worried about the rain as were the following performers Maguir O' Sheas Irish Dance Academy, but there was no need to fear as soon he started people started dancing and the rhythmic convulsions had people in a trance.  Whether the song and moves that Shin was teaching were some Punjabi sun dance or simply had a hypnotic power that lifted people out of the rain - his efforts worked.  Quite simply, the event was hotter in every sense of the word and life just seemed wonderful!

We capped things off at the stage area with an awesome performance by Maguire O'Sheas of international fame.  

The event also benefitted from a free Basketball Workshop by Spartans Basketball Club, A Football game, Bash the Rat, Henna Painting stall, Facepainting stall, Tombolas, bring and buy stalls, penalty shoot out and a whole raft of international food and raffle stalls.

Wilson Chowdhry who helped organise the performances said; "The PTA did a remarkable job in organizing this event the Chair Therese Cater deserves great praise for her efforts with a small team. The local community came out despite the rain and made the event a huge success. We raised lots of money for the school and lightened up what would otherwise have been a dreary day.  I would like to say a big thank you to all the performers who brought a carnival atmosphere to the school"    

Replacing a stolen history! Ilford Mammoths return...

Image of proposed plaque.

The British Pakistani Christian Association (located in Ilford) will restore a community plaque that was stolen from Ilford Methodist Church, Ilford Lane.  The original 1951 plaque was installed by Redbridge Council during the Festival of Britain and commemorated Pleistocene Mammoth finds collected during an excavation of the former Uphall Brick Pit site by Sir Antonio Brady in 1936. 

Image of original plaque

To date the most remarkable find was the only full mammoth skull ever to have been found in Britain.  This "Ilford Mammoth" skull along with many other remains are being preserved by the Natural History Museum.  Currently the revamped Ilford Central Library is displaying a real mammoth bone in the Historical section of their adult library and the BPCA are encouraging local people to visit both the plaque and library to celebrate our paleontological heritage  

Wilson Chowdhry Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association said;

"When we heard of the loss of this important historical plaque our group decided to replace it.  Our intention was to preserve our local history, whilst increasing awareness of the existence of our minority community.  Few people in this country and our Borough are aware of the significant Mammoth finds excavated in Ilford - even fewer realise Pakistani Christians exist. We originally hoped to unveil the plaque during the Queens Jubilee celebrations we held in Ilford Town Centre 4th - 5th June, unfortunately circumstances delayed the installation.  We have now sent the first draft to local historians, the Natural History Museum and the Methodist church for approval and hope to install the plaque next week."  

Further  details on the history of the Ilford Mammoth can be found on the "Geology of Essex" website:

http://www.essexwt.org.uk/geology/mammoth.htm

An in-depth paleontological study of Mammoths can be viewed on the Natural History Museums website at:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/departments/palaeontology/research/vertebrates/quaternary-mammals/mammoth-evolution/index.html

Cranium and tusks of the Pleistocene Steppe Mammoth found in Ilford - the only complete Mammoth skull found in Britain.

Model of the Woolly mammoth found in Ilford 

Gordon Road Queens Jubilee Street Party

The East Ilford Business Partnership have applied for a traffic management order to close Gordon Road from numbers 1-23 and 2-54 (the first block from Green Lane to Winchester Road).

Date:  2nd July

Time:  12:00 - 18:00

Venue:  Gordon Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 1SP

Activities:  Street disco, bouncy castle, face painting, barbecue, resident food stalls, traditional British games e.g. sack race, hoops, egg and spoon race, short runs, and much more...

Attendance:  All welcome - Free entry!

Planning meetings have been held for the last two weeks at 19:30 on Tuesdays at Clementswood Community Centre, 14a Connaught Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 1RN.  Please feel free to join future

meetings.

Real live Pumas in Ilford!

Hundreds attend Ilford Territorial Army Centre open day to admire the Puma Helicopters.  The helicopters will provide air support during the Olympics and the site was being used for a trial run.

Wing Commander Anderson with Hannah and Sophia Chowdhry

Staff at the Territorial Army Centre made visitors feel very welcome.

Puma Helicopters can carry 16 airmen we were told.

Airmen allowed visitors to try on their specialised safety helmets.

Over 90 extra military personnel will be deployed at Ilford TAC during the Olympics.

Local Squadrons joined the Airman in making the day a special one for visitors.

Ilford is only 7 miles away form Stratford, making it the most important strategic site and nearest response base.

The helicopters make a large noise on lift-off, but rise quickly to avoid excessive noise pollution.

Airmen described the use of the helicopter whilst sharing time with local residents.

Children and adults experienced the reality of the cramped space in war helicopters.

Few luxuries are provided within the Puma's.

Many families from neighbour SS Peter's and Paul's School visited the base.

Children struggled with the steps to the helicopter but enjoyed the adventure nevertheless.

Around 90 Airstaff will be deployed at the base during the Olympics.  Parents dropping or picking children to/from school are advised to park further away to avoid congestion on the road.

Children and young people got to hear first hand what life in the military was like.

There is always time for fun and frolics!

This driver seems a little young...

The fuel carrier bonnet is higher that the rather tall Airman before it, illustrating how large the vehicle is.  The tyres were over 1m high.

In a war zone a gunner would be standing in the ceiling cavity.

Again the internal furniture is sparse, military vehicles are made with practical design philosophy.

Looks like I am taking the picture from a small hill ay...