As part of Kensington and Chelsea Council’s support for the Olympic bid, the Libraries and Arts service decided to express its interest in the bid through poetry. The Land of Hope and Glory’ and `The Measure of all Things’ were written by myself. I spent time discussing London’s bid to hold the Olympics with a dance class and a basketball team at Lancaster and Golborne youth centres. I spoke to people in libraries across the borough and staff at Kensington and Chelsea Council about their views on the bid. I then used this information to craft two poems, which illustrate the views of the people in Kensington and Chelsea.
Poetry written in the libraries and youth centres of the Royal Borough was presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during their inspection of the city’s bid to host the 2012 summer games. The London Archives, Libraries and Museums agency (ALM) and the London 2012 team liked this idea so much they wanted to present the poems to the IOC. `