Celebrations to mark the handover from Beijing to London for the 2012 Olympic Games were held at Lowestoft and Southwold on Sunday 24th August 2008.

Olympic Handover Flags were raised at both Lowestoft and Southwold seafront at 2.30pm to coincide with events taking place around the UK the official handover in London.

Waveney’s Olympic Handover Flags were two of only around 500 flags to be delivered to locations including HM Armed Forces, embassies around the world, City Halls, British Council Offices and Foreign and Commonwealth offices.

At Lowestoft, Councillor George Hawes, Chairman of Waveney District Council and John Pawsey, Chair of Active Waveney Sports Partnership, joined Lowestoft Town Mayor Frank Mortimer to raise the flag.

The Southwold Event saw Southwold Town Mayor Teresa Baggott and Councillor Wendy Mawer, Waveney’s Portfolio Holder for Regeneration raise the flag.

Local Sporting and cultural stakeholders were on hand to help celebrate the handover at both locations.

Councillor George Hawes said: “Celebrating the Olympic Handover will be an honour for the district of Waveney. We must now support Active Waveney Sports Partnership and all the potential Olympians that live and train in our area and we hope we will be seeing them in Team GB in 2012”.

Frank Mortimer, Lowestoft Town Mayor added: “The Olympics is about partnership and of course friendship through sport, and I hope that the 2012 Olympics inspires more of our population to become more physically active and involved in the broad range of sporting opportunities available in our town”.

John Pawsey, Chair Active Waveney Sports Partnership said:” Let us all pull together to attract international teams to consider coming to Waveney to enjoy the hospitality of our community, experience the sites and culture we can offer through The Broads, beaches and other attractions, and make use of facilities like the gymnastic centre, which is recognised as one of the best in the country. We must not lose the chance to promote greater participation in sport, and therefore we have an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of Waveney over the next four years leading up to London 2012”

Councillor Wendy Mawer said:” On the back of the country’s current Olympic success, we are really proud to be able to fly the flag at Lowestoft and Southwold to celebrate the beginning of four exciting years”.

The Olympic Handover flags will be flying at Lowestoft and Southwold beach until the 23rd September 2008.