London 2012 Olympics Tickets Hotels and Tours: Summer Games to Volunteers: "We want you...er, no we don't."

http://www.london-tours-2012.com/
http://www.london2012-tours.com/
http://www.london-olympiad.com/

"We volunteered. Now where are
our bloody London 2012 tickets!"

As London 2012 organisers scramble to get Summer Olympics tickets figured out, some bold ticket-related initiatives are quietly being scrapped. Case in point: the volunteers in exchange for tickets plan. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of the London 2012 ticket committee. I can almost smell the sweat, Red Bull, and yes perhaps a whiff of urine as panick sets in. Tick tock boys and girls!

A scheme to use the Olympics to get people to volunteer in their local communities has been scrapped, the Culture Department has said. Following severe government cuts, the UK's culture department now consists of one Welsh man, a telephone, and a monkey named "Londoneye." The national 25th Hour campaign was launched at the Olympic Park last March by the then Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and London 2012 chairman Lord Coe. As a thank-you for giving up their time for community work, devoted volunteers were promised to be in line for one of the 2,012 pairs of tickets for the dress rehearsal for the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. Alas the scheme has gone the way of the Dodo.

The 25th Hour campaign was based on the idea that everyone can find an extra hour or more to make a difference. The tickets were to have been among a range of Olympic-themed awards for "exceptional time givers". The new Government is now hoping that the Places People Play scheme will bolster grassroots projects and events. A Culture Department spokesman said: "After careful consideration, the Government has decided not to continue the 25th Hour Programme. "Instead, the focus going forward will be on getting more people involved in sport as volunteers and coaches, through the Places People Play initiative. The new Sports Leaders Scheme aims to recruit, train and deploy 40,000 new volunteers to help organise sports activities in their communities."

 The 25th Hour was separate to London 2012's volunteer programme which this week began interviews to recruit 70,000 people to help the Games run smoothly. We at Spyns London 2012 tours (shameless plug) wonder why the games rely so heavily on volunteers. You don't see anyone volunteering a building, loaning equipment for free, or providing construction services at cost now do you?

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.