Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park opens to the public

After a two-year transformation, at last, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has opened to the public. On Friday, Prince Harry and Mayor Boris Johnson were the guests of the site but it was on Saturday, at 10 am, when Londoners could visit and explore the whole parkland, 560-acres, for the fist time.

Although the north area and the Copper Box Arena opened last year, it was this weekend when the south side and the Ancelor Mittal Orbit, with its 375ft-high, were accessible. 

This is part of the London 2012 Games' planning. A great east London landmark and a reference place for all Londoners.

In June the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre will be open, where the European Hockey Championship will be hosted in 2015. The new roof for the Olympic stadium will be finished to celebrate the Rugby World Cup next year and the last piece of the puzzle will be completed in 2016 with the West Ham stadium opening.

Robert the Engine

This is the 0-6-0 saddle tank locomotive, works number 2068, named Robert. It was built in 1933 by the Avonside Engine Company, a builder of industrial locomotives established in Avon Street, Bristol, between 1864 and 1934. It was used at the Lamport Ironstone Mines Railway in Northamptonshire.

"After the railway closed in 1969, Robert worked on a number of heritage railways before being acquired by the London Docklands Development Corporation as an example of a twentieth century industrial steam locomotive and it was displayed at the site of the former Beckton Gas Works, once the largest producer of 'Town Gas' in Europe".

The London Borough of Newham bought Robert in 2000 and they moved the 80-years-old steam-locomotive in front of Stratford Station. Eight years later, it was shunted off to the East Anglian Railway Museum at Chappel and Wakes Colne, near Colchester, where it was cleaned and repainted.

Sci-Fi-London

Do you enjoy sci-fi? So, you are lucky because the 12th Annual International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film is coming to London.  

The festival will take place from Tuesday 30th of April to Monday 6th of May in three main venues: BFI Southbank, Stratford Picture House and Stratford Circus. 

The programme includes night films and premieres like Vessel, The Search for Simon, Stress Position, The Man from the Future, Dead Meat Walking, Birdemic II: The Resurrection and sixteen more titles. 

But this independent film festival, created by Louis Savy "because there wasn't one", organizes the annual in-cinema pub quiz and more events like the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Important novelists and comic book writers will talk about the Doctor’s trips and his adventures. 

The Sci-fi festival will plan free attractions like Write the Science Fiction Film with Robert Grant. On Sunday 28th of April the Costume Parade will take place. Zombies, Superheroes, Darth Vader, Mario Bros, Freddy Krueger, Dr Who, The Blob… Choose your favourite character, dress up and join the march. 

A great week is waiting for you. So, don’t miss it.