Legacy

No I am not going to write about leaving something in your will to the Wilts & Berks (but that would of course be much appreciated) however a recent visit to London put these thoughts in my mind.
Firstly its holiday time so I am afraid this weekly column is going to be on a more irregular basis until the middle of September.
The London trip was last weekend to watch an evening of athletics at the London (Olympic) Stadium -you may know that we took our narrowboat to the Queen Elizabeth Park last year when the waterways (what we used to call the Bow Back Rivers) were re-opened. It was fantastic to see how much the park- now a public open space - had matured since my first visits to some of the Olympic Games events in 2012. Last week it was back to the Stadium on foot .

Queen Elizabeth Park -view to the Swimming Pool

The trees and planting are fantastic - the natural wild flowers in the beds and alongside the waterways are a credit to the designer.
For canal fans like myself there was also an opportunity to see the recently restored Carpenters Road Lock with its unique sector gates 

You will know that there was much controversy about the cost of the Games however in my opinion the money was well spent on turning this derelict part of Hackney/Stratford into a wonderful place for the community to enjoy all the time plus the athletes village now social housing- plus a magnificent dual purpose football and world class athletics stadium plus swimming pool plus ... I could go on but sufficient to sayit was public investment in infrastructure that certainly is a huge benefit for all.
Just think what a fraction of the Olympic investment could do to put the Wilts & Berks back together again - as the social media says #forallofus. Perhaps Lord Coe you could work some of your magic for us ???

Ken Oliver
@canalken