The Sutton Arena will be renamed the David Weir Arena tomorrow, in light of his incredible six gold medals at London 2012, and to mark Sutton’s pride in their Paralympic hero.
The Sutton Arena is a first-class leisure facility in Sutton, offering indoor and outdoor track and field facilities, as well as a gym. It has the only indoor pole vault in the South-East, making it home of London’s Pole Vault Association.
At tomorrow’s event, Cllr Whitehead, Chair of Sutton Council’s Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee will highlight the key link between sport and sustainability.
Sutton Council are committed to helping build a One Planet Sutton, that is a place where people can lead happy, healthy lives within a fair share of the earth’s resources. Leading active, healthy lives is integral to this, including at Sutton’s first-class leisure facilities.
The teamwork, culture and sense of community displayed at London 2012 will also be key. As Sutton aims to be the greenest borough in the UK, London 2012 strived to be the greenest ever games. From no games waste going direct to landfill, to all spectator travelling by public transport, it set a high benchmark for future games.
BioRegional hosted a One Planet Centre in the athletes’ village during the games. The centre aimed to inspire athletes at London 20
12 to become champions for change and help raise awareness across the globe about environmental issues and explain how people from their home country can take simple actions towards a more sustainable future. This centre was twinned with one at BedZED in Hackbridge which David Weir kindly launched in autumn 2011.
The new David Weir Arena will tomorrow become the home of a unique piece of memorabilia from the One Planet Centre – a board containing pledges from London 2012 Olympians and Paralympians (image right). We hope this will inspire visitors and users of the David Weir Arena to make their own pledges towards One Planet Living in Sutton.
