Key facts
Area: West Midlands
Grant recipient: Ounsdale High School
Project: Being the best you can be!
Programme: Awards for All
Date of award: May 2012
Amount awarded: £9,689
Ounsdale High School in Wombourne, together with the help of lottery funding, brought the community together recently with their very own Olympic games attracting over 1,500 attendees. The school received £9,689 in funding through BIG’s Awards for All programme which they used to put on a series of activities, competitions and events for the local community, held only two weeks prior to the actual 2012 Olympic Games.
A competition held to design a Wombourne Games Olympic Torch attracted a lot of entries with the winning entry shown below which was then brought to life on the day! Thomas Fallon was proudly presented with his creation by Councillor Joan Williams, Portfolio holder of Environmental Services at South Staffordshire Council.
The day started with a parade featuring one of the actual Olympic torches and the torch created especially for the day, followed by various track events. Competitors ranged in ages with the youngest being just one and the oldest being over 90 years old!
But the day was not just about sporting prowess, art, flower arranging, patch work quilt exhibitions and even a cake ‘bake off’ competition featured with local MP for Wombourne Gavin Williamson sampling the goods.
Commenting on the games, Gavin Williamson said:
‘I really enjoyed attending the Wombourne Games and warmly congratulate all those involved in organising this excellent event. It was a joy to see so many people both attending and taking part in the event which demonstrated the great pride that the people of Wombourne take in their community.
There was a guest appearance from ANTICS towards the end of the day, who have featured on Sky 1’s Got to Dance Competition, which helped everyone to get into the party spirit and Wolves legend Steve Bull also put in an appearance.
The day was a truly spectacular event with one community member summing up the day perfectly “so many people, so many smiles, a community that has a real sense of pride”.