News

23-25 July 2010 Hadleigh's Salvation Army Farm which will host the Mountain biking events at the London 2012 Games hosted a special exhibition of photos of the farm over the years, a display of the planned Mountain biking course and a demonstration of bycycles of the past. 

This was all part of the the London 2012 Open Weekend, inviting visitors to appreciate the history of the soon to be London 2012 venue. 

Visitors could see a timeline of the farm's history, dating back to 1891, when it was bought by Salvation Army founder General Booth. 

As well as displaying the exhibitis people were challenged bring along their memories of the farm and write them down to form an archive. The exhibition reveals how General Booth set up a colony at Hadleigh Farm to provide a second chance for down and outs from Britiain's inner cities.  Today the farm is much smaller, but is still producing peas for export to Japan and beans that to go Egypt.  There is also now a training centre on the site offering people who face a barrier to work the change to learn vocational skills. 

The event was orgnanised by the Salvation Army, led by social services Manager Beverley Eagan. 

For more information visit the Salvation army website