Hackney Community College: venue to train 70,000 2012 Games volunteers

Posted 13th April 2012

Hackney Community College has been chosen as a key training location to prepare London 2012’s volunteers, the Games Makers. It’s the only college in the country to have this prestigious role in the build up to the Games.

LOCOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) has recruited around 70,000 volunteers to be Games Makers during the London 2012 Games.

Most of the Games Makers selected to volunteer during the London 2012 Games will receive their role-specific training at Hackney Community College’s Shoreditch Campus or its City Edge campus on Mare Street in Hackney. The training will take place until July 2012 and will ensure that volunteers understand what will be required in their role during Games time.

Hackney resident Chitra Banerjee is now a trained Games Maker

In total, around 150 LOCOG trainers are delivering 1.2 million hours of training, which will continue through until July. Games Makers attending Hackney Community College for the training will between them have 800 different volunteer roles at the Games.

After this role-specific training in Hackney, volunteers will then have their venue training just before the events begin.

Ian Ashman, principal of Hackney Community College, said: “We are delighted that LOCOG chose Hackney Community College as the main venue for training the Games Maker volunteers. It has brought additional resources to the College which we have used to support education and sport for London students.

It has brought additional jobs to the Borough and brings highly valued international recognition for the quality of our venues. Many of the volunteers are also spending time and money in the borough while they are here, bringing further local economic benefits.

Overall we think that holding the training at HCC is a great illustration of LOCOGs commitment to help local communities benefit from the Games.”

Having LOCOG working so closely with the college is a huge inspiration to the college’s students.

As well as providing a training venue, HCC has already made other commitments for the Games, including training hundreds of students and unemployed people to take up 2012 jobs in industries like security, catering, retail and cleaning. They have also put forward ambassadors to support sports events, and students will be performing at the opening ceremony.

Furthermore, when this training is over, the facility will be transformed to a basketball/wheelchair basketball training venue and the college will welcome basketball teams from around the world. This will see a significant upgrade to the college’s sports centre, funded by LOCOG, for the benefit of our students and local community groups.

Hackney Community College’s students and staff are really looking forward to the Games. The College has 200 free tickets to allocate to students this term. It’s good to know that those attending the events will be well-looked-after by the well-trained Games Makers at the events.

Ian Ashman concluded: “We believe London 2012 offers a great legacy to the local area and the college being the venue for the volunteer training is one more example of the benefits of the Games to our community.”