OPEN WEEKEND 2009

Discover the Greenway 25 July

Mural painting, Discover the Greenway

A fun afternoon celebrating the historic, contemporary and natural environment of the Greenway.

Held as part of London 2012 Open Weekend, ‘Discover the Greenway’ was the first Discovering Places event.

This offered the chance for people to explore the Greenway, a five mile long walking and cycle route built on top of the giant Victorian Northern Outfall Sewer in East London and to get a close-up view of the Olympic Park. The Greenway runs alongside the south side of the Olympic Park. From the Greenway, there is an amazing view of the building of the Olympic Park, including the Olympic Stadium and Aquatic Centre as they are being built.

The hub for the afternoon activities was the View Tube, a social enterprise and community venue located on The Greenway. This was the first activity to take place in this building constructed using recycled shipping containers. Lively and interesting free activities for all the family were held along the Greenway including walks and talks led by experts from the natural, historic and contemporary built environments to bring the Greenway and local area alive. The doors of the nearby House Mill,  a grade 1 listed 18th century tidal mill on the banks of the Lea Navigation, were open for tours of what is believed to be, the largest tidal mill still in existence in the world.

Everybody was welcomed and encouraged to come along with a picnic, enjoy and take part in the activities. The wonderful range of activities for all the family to take part in including films, mural making, art obstacle course, bat box making and bird watching  (Programme (page 1) and Programme (page 2) generated a great atmosphere and captivated people with the local environment.

The afternoon was delivered by: CABE, Heritage Link, Natural England; Leaside Regeneration, Architecture Centre Network, The Architecture Crew, The Architecture Foundation, The Building Exploratory, Fundamental, London Wildlife Trust

The View Tube is open daily and is just waiting to be discovered with its panoramic view over the Olympic Park and Stratford City.