On 27 July, switch on the Opening Ceremony and crowd round the TV for the start of London 2012. Get in on the action by throwing an Opening Night In party. Send out the invites, put up the bunting, wear your glad rags and get cooking. It’s showtime!

You could:

Ring bells
Start the celebrations early by hosting an All The Bells event and join thousands of others ringing bells at 8.12am as part of the London 2012 Festival.

Decorate and celebrate
Get everyone involved - there’s plenty to make for all ages. Attempt 100 metres of paper chains or theme your party food. Blow up balloons and make them look like Olympic Rings.

Get cooking
It’s time to put your pinny on and get cooking with recipes to feed a family or a sports team. Try Pendleton pizza for a tasty snack, or cheese-straw oars for perfect finger food. And finish off with ‘dive right in’ punch –  delicious.

Wear your glad rags
Face paint an eye on your forehead and wear blue or orange to mimic our mascots. Come in the colour of an Olympic Ring. Or you could go for the ancient Olympic Games look and make a toga.

Games for the Games
A party’s not complete without games. Get into teams and play bingo, or race Wenlock down your living room.

Sign up to receive the Local Leader newsletter to get access to exclusive competitions and celebration ideas. Then This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it how you’re going to celebrate and he’ll send you a limited edition Local Leader pin badge.

There have been several attempts to measure the economic impact of London
2012. Some have focused on a specific segment of the economy, such as
consumer spending, while others have been limited to a narrow timeframe.
Our objective in this report has been a much broader assessment of the impact.
We have looked at the period from July 2005, when the IOC awarded the
Games to London, through to 2017 − five years after the closing ceremony −
although it is clear that the economic legacy will last far beyond that point. We
have also examined the impact across construction and tourism, as well as on
the labour market and housing.

For the sake of rigour, the report concentrates on aspects of the economic
impact where most data were available. As such, some more speculative issues
including changes in sporting participation are not addressed.

As much as possible, the calculation of the economic impact takes into account
any activity that would have happened in spite of the Games, or that has been
lost because Games-related projects have taken precedence over alternative
developments. However, the report does not look at how the resources used for
the London 2012 Games and to build its legacy might have been otherwise
deployed.

We've commissioned this independent report, with the aim of producing the most
comprehensive analysis possible of the economic impact of the Games,
although we realise that it could be several years before the true scale of this
impact is understood.

To view this, please click here.

At 08:12 on 27th July 2012, thousands of people across the UK will be joining together to ring in the first day of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Everyone across the country is invited to take part.

Anyone can take part by ringing any bell whatsoever.

All you have to do is click on Take Part to let us know you’re going to ring your bell. We’ll remind you of the date nearer the time.

Even better, why don’t you Add an Event of your own and invite your colleagues, friends and family to join you.

Everyone who takes part will be able to download a free exclusive Martin Creed ringtone as soon as it becomes available.

Please join us at 08:12 on 27th July to experience millions of bells ringing out across the country in order to mark this historical moment and to celebrate the beginning of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

We need your help!

Quilts4London and A Gift of Quilts, projects awarded the Inspire Mark of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad under the umbrella of the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles, are appealing to 2012 Olympic and Paralympic athletes and delegates to contact them directly, to ensure that all teams and sports are provided with their gifts of handmade textile pennants and quilts .

Both projects, which started in 2008, were set up as community projects for people to get involved with the London Olympic Games by sewing these commemorative gifts for all the Olympic and Paralympic Teams and athletes.

With initial targets of 12000 pennants and 450 quilts, they attracted a great deal of support from people of all ages and abilities, many who had never sewn before. With an age range of 2–103, social groups, schools, the scout & guide association, WI’s, U3A, prison groups and many individuals joined together to celebrate the Games in a personal way.

Both projects surpassed their targets, with 17,000 pennants and 460 quilts being received. 35,000 people took part, creating a lasting 2012 legacy in the revival of traditional textile skills being taught to children. 7,000 have been taught life skills that they too can pass onto their children. The self-funded organisations have been entirely run by volunteers. Quilts4London has a team of 10 led by Irene Heathcote and Catherine Hill in Hertfordshire and 15 co-ordinators in the UK and Australia. A Gift of Quilts is organised by Jenny Rundle and Sharon Garrick on the Hampshire/Wiltshire borders with 2 team members.

Both projects have received advice and support from Voluntary Arts and the Cultural Olympiad organisation operating alongside LOCOG. The latter arranged for the pennants to be included in the Official Gift Bags for the Paralympic Athletes and their Support teams, handed over in March 2012. Pennants & quilts have been presented though receptions and events held by Local Authorities, Universities and at other venues but not all countries have attended training camps in the UK and the projects needs to make contact with the Olympic participants from the remaining countries so that they can receive the quilts & pennants whilst in the UK for The Games. If you are participating or know someone who is and they have not received a pennant or their country a quilt, please contact us.

2012 has seen several important exhibitions, for the public, as well as the people who made these gifts, to see how much of an impact the projects had made. All 420 quilts from A Gift of Quilts and 3000 pennants from Quilts4London were exhibited together at this year’s Stitch and Craft show held at Olympia, which was visited by Annie Lush of Team GB, and a member of the LOCOG team, who were overwhelmed by the work and commitment that had been shown by so many people. Pennants have also been displayed at The House of Commons, View Tube overlooking the Olympic Park, the Quilt Museum in York and Museums in Macclesfield, Newbury, Luton and Bath.

The recent Amateo Conference, in London, organised by Voluntary Arts UK, gave the two projects the opportunity to meet with European delegates from Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Slovenia, the Republic of Ireland and Croatia. Quilts and Pennants were presented to the delegates who were in awe of what had been achieved by the participants of the projects. The Brazilian Cultural delegates have been enthusiastic about receiving their gifts at a forthcoming event in London, in anticipation of the 2016 Games in Rio.

Both projects have been recognised nationally and internationally and have been featured in press coverage throughout the world. Quilts4London’s website has been captured as part of the British Library Olympic Digital Archive.

Further details and pictures will be available on the websites www.quilts4london.org.uk and www.agiftofquilts.co.uk

Jenny Rundle Tel: 01264 358118 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Irene Heathcote Tel: 01442 404234 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it