2012 Pomposity

 

Christine Ohuruogu! A woman of Newham! How could your image end up being used to sell Uhlympic ideology, sweatshop trainers and nationalism? Ugh.

Newham Welcomes The World

As we saw during the handover ceremonies, the Olympics is fast becoming a platform for mediocre corporate arts.

But all is not lost!

Ronald Corp and his New London Orchestra are pioneering a series of beautiful and culturally-sensitive performances in the community with their long-term project, Newham Welcomes The World.

In 2007 the project debuted with The Journey Begins, an unforgettable night. A 400-strong choir made up of locals kids and adults, and a full orchestra, performed a song cycle all about Newham, including our very own Newham Anthem! Sample: “We’re the centre of diversity, Newham’s the place to be!” Hope Massiah, who is nothing short of fabulous, provided the lyrics and a year later I’m still singing these songs to myself.

I’m only sorry that a recording of the event isn’t available, neither can I find an online lyrics sheet. All I can offer is some cruddy phonecam footage. 

The 2008 Newham Welcomes The World project was a different affair. Staged at our beloved Theatre Royal, Pass The Baton told interwoven stories of Newham residents old and young, and was preceded by a performance by the New London Orchestra. Judging by the number of mates and family cheering from the audience, the show was performed by local people.

Where so much Olympic baloney is based on the premise that East London was a wasteland until the IOC rolled into town, Newham Welcomes The World demonstrates that there is already plenty that makes this neighbourhood special. Hats off to Corp and the crew for producing wonderful work that is so fantastically relevant to the changes that are happening, and that encourages and empowers local people to tell our stories ourselves. It’s thrilling to witness work that reflects the people and places we know best and which doesn’t try to whitewash over the reality of life in East London. Newham Welcomes The World makes me feel heartened, hopeful and very proud of this area.

http://www.newhamwelcomestheworld.co.uk

Charlotte

Community Murals

We love home-made, off-brand olympic art like this.

Charlotte

This is where we start

Charlotte: Hello, are you there? Shall we start?

Kay: Hello, was on loo, back now. Let’s start.

Charlotte: Ok, so where were you when you heard?

Kay: I was at work. I think. I’d been hanging around Meridian Square a bit earlier, but I wasn’t there for the announcement.

Charlotte: How did you hear about it?

Kay: Someone had a tiny black and white TV on their desk and I heard it that way. How did you hear?

Charlotte: I was at work too, I knew it was going to be announced and I went to the coffee bar, where there are some tellies. There was quite a crowd watching them. Work is very corporate, and the people watching the announcement were like Sports Guys, white, middle class, suited, all looking like one big blob of corporate bloke-ness. When the announcement was made they cheered so loudly, it was deafening.

Kay: It was the cheering that alerted me to it too. People that I sat next to at work were quite disinterested. I think it was a blokey thing to be interested. Before the announcement it seemed it was only significant if you were into sport.

Charlotte: Yes, I felt like a freak (nothing new there) for going down to have a look because I’m not very sporty, though I’m fascinated by the Olympics. That roaring cheer really creeped me out! It was like being amongst the Pod People and kind of crystallised my alienation from them! In retrospect I think I made a connection between the corporate cheers of my colleagues, and the corporate hell of the Olympics that I knew was to come. So what was it like for you? What did you think when you heard that London had been chosen?

Kay: I was really surprised. Everyone was expecting Paris to win. I’d wanted that too because it was near enough to go there without ruining our area. But actually, I felt kind of happy and excited. I felt weirdly proud.

Charlotte: I can understand that. For me it was his kind of dizzying feeling, excitement, but kind of “Oh fuck” too. I felt like I needed a lie down in a darkened room to get over it. I guess I was in shock, though it wasn’t a very joyful sensation. I went back to work feeling sort of numb. And then the next day the bombings happened and I didn’t think about it for a while. You went back to Meridian Square didn’t you? What was that like?

Kay: Yes. It was good to have an excuse to stop working that seemed legitimate. I phoned up some of the service users and encouraged them to come down and see what was happening. I think that was part of me feeling positive about it. I was working with these really disenfranchised Newham people and I thought at the time that they might be able to own it in some way, that they would get to see a big world event on their doorstep. Of course, none of them could be bothered to come down so I was there by myself looking at the craziness.

Charlotte: Will you stick the pics up at some point? Have you got any pics of the giant athlete man-woman?

Kay: I think so. I’ll search for them.

Kay: I saw the press out in force. Newham Mayor Robin Wales and Tessa Sanderson and some kids singing. Everyone was extremely hyped up and there was litter strewn everywhere.

Charlotte: It’ll probably be like that for the next four years. Do you have anything else to add about what it was like when we heard?

Kay: No but just to say something about the bombs the next day. We had planned a trip to Southend and couldn’t go because of the bombs. It seemed like living through something properly historic. I thought the events were linked and I think then I started to properly consider the Olympics as being bad for Stratford.

Charlotte: Wow.

Kay: Thanks. It was big. One of the service users didn’t know about the bombs and had got really cross with us for not going to Southend. When I explained it to him he was really upset. We ended up going to the cinema instead.

Charlotte: Is there anything else you want to add? Maybe you could say a few words about what it’s like starting this blog.

Kay: I wish we’d started it earlier! There are so many little things that I see that have just slipped away. Anyway, we’re on it now. It’s exciting. I think it will be a great way of documenting this proper history we are living through. How about you?

Charlotte: I feel excited about it, I think there are so many great stories in Stratford at the moment, the real stuff, not the stupid crap that we read about from official sources, I’m desperate to document it. I’m looking forwards to having some fun with this, I have big hopes.

Charlotte: Onwards?

Kay: Hurrah!