The biggest sporting event to hit these isles this century will make its presence felt in the borough tomorrow, as part of the ongoing Sutton Festival celebrations.
Wallington London Marathon winner David Weir will be among the people carrying the Commonwealth Games baton through the streets of Sutton on its way to Manchester, where the Queen will open the international event.
The baton will start off at the Mansion House in Nonsuch Park around 1.10pm, in the hands of Wallington resident Bonnie Crow, will reach Mr Weir in Throwley Way, before leaving the borough around 2pm.
But the baton's departure will not spell the end of the Sutton Festival, which will continue without interruption into Sunday.
The celebrations kicked off last Friday, when 12-year-old Rebecca Griffin, who triumphed in a poetry competition run by the Comet and Sutton Council, had her winning poem unveiled in stone in the borough's Millennium Garden.
The garden was officially opened on Friday, but residents had to wait until Saturday for the festival itself to get into full swing.
The Natural Theatre Company wowed and bemused in equal measure in Sutton High Street, waving placards at shoppers claiming The Young Need Jobs Not Art', under the banner of the Sutton League of Bigots.
Up the road L'Aubade du Quercy, a dance collective from Sutton's twin town Gagny, gave passers-by a taste of French folk culture, while the East Surrey Morris Men and the Pennyroyal Clog Dancers provided the English counterpart.
Since then, the action has scarcely flagged, with music, drama, literature, the environment, religion, education and politics all on the agenda.
Sutton and Wallington town centres will be awash with sporting and dancing displays tomorrow, and the American Youth Choir will perform at Sutton Baptist Church from 7.30pm.
The festival will close in a slightly more sedate fashion on Sunday, with gentle walks in Cheam and Carshalton and free entry to Whitehall and the Honeywood heritage centre.
For more information visit www.suttonfestival.info or call 020 8329 9254. For full details of the baton relay route, turn to page 42.
July 12, 2002 11:00
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