Stratford's Olympic site is offering new opportunities

By REVD KEVIN WOOLMER Priest-in-Charge of Stratford St Paul's and chaplain to the Olympic and Stratford City construction sites.

WHEN I visited the 2012 Olympics site with my churchwarden Marion Cast and Bishop David, huge earth work movements were taking place. Westfield Construction was in the process of sinking
12,000 concrete and steel piles into the ground, some up to 120ft deep, to stabilise it and support the huge buildings which will form the new Stratford City mixed use town centre.

It is due for completion sometime towards the end of 2010 and will form the first phase of the transformation of Stratford as the rest of the Olympic site takes shape. Westfield will be employing
several thousand men and women in the construction phase alone and the company is looking to employ and train local people.

Westfield is also building hotels and business centres into the Stratford City site which will boost the local economy in many ways by providing long-term employment.

Anyone who is interested in this type of work should go to Newham Job Centre to make enquiries.

As chaplain to the whole site, one of the unexpected projects I've been pleased to get involved in has been the Newham Education Business Partnership Scheme, where I was invited to take part in
something called Building Opportunities Skills Seminar (BOSS) which goes into the
local secondary schools to encourage school leavers to look at these jobs in construction and other work types and then help train them in job application and interview techniques.

In this way the Church of England, via my chaplaincy and in cooperation with BOSS and Westfield and other constructors in the Olympic site, has the opportunity to be positively involved in the local
communities, working to raise the aspirations of young people who may believe they have no work prospect or skills by providing them with the opportunities to train for jobs which will change their lives for the better."

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