James Nesbitt joins us for Breakfast

Pause For Thought

From Canon Ann Easter, Chief Executive of a Charity and Chaplain to the Queen.

I was there, of course, in Stratford in 2005 when the result of the Olympic Committee’s deliberations was read out and we learned that London was to be the venue for the 2012 Olympics. We went crazy! Everyone hugging each other and screaming while the Red Arrows flew overhead and the editor of the local newspaper asked me, as the then Area Dean for Newham, whether I thought that this would be a good thing for our borough.
And I’m not terribly bothered about sports so I said that I really hoped that the hopes, energy, work and money that would be needed to make the Games happen, would also produce a lasting legacy which would improve the lives of our people.
There’s no doubt that we’ll have a magnificent park, some great sports stadia and some new homes too, in time, when the present buildings are refurbished and that will be a marvellous and huge legacy, I hope, but, having lived through this Jubilympic summer, I’m hoping for more than just things.
I’ve heard crowds cheering, not just for the winner, but for everyone who’s done their best and I want us to hold on to that way of being supporters, not jeering but cheering ; I’ve seen sportsmen and women compete and win – but then turn around to console the others who tried really hard but didn’t come in first – did you see that lovely picture of the table tennis player hug his collapsed opponent and made him laugh in his exhaustion – I want us to grow into that sort of competitor; and I’ve chatted with people on the train and drunk tea with neighbours I didn’t know, and I’d like us to continue to enjoy being communities rather than people who happen to live in the same street.
And, if that’s what the Games are going to leave us when the show has moved on, then I’ll be a very happy beneficiary.