City 2 City Commonwealth Games Baton Relay

Anna, Saul and Cole with the Lord Provost

Anna, Saul, Cole, Ben, Cai and Chris with the Lord Provost and secondary school relay team.

18 P4 pupils from Sciennes (drawn from a hat) with Saul (World Tae Kwon Do Champion) and Isla (Scottish Gymnast) from P5, accompanied by lots of families, joined secondary pupils from across Edinburgh in the first two legs of a unique baton relay event to celebrate the Commonwealth Games taking place in Glasgow.

Melissa Berry, Active Schools Manager, Barry Hewitt Principal Teacher Outdoor Learning with the first leg of the baton relay outside City Chambers.

Breakfast with the Lord Provost in his offices at City Chambers

The 'City 2 City Baton Relay', which set off this morning (Tuesday 17 June) with an announcement from the Lord Provost Donald Wilson, will see over 100 young people involved in delivering a special baton from the Capital to the City Chambers in Glasgow over two days.
The specially created baton contains a message of hope and support for the upcoming Commonwealth Games with the inscription:

In the spirit of friendship and cooperation, The City of Edinburgh carries this message of support to The City of Glasgow. We are proud to see the Commonwealth Games return to Scotland. We wish you every success in delivering a modern and exciting Games.

Over 110 young people will participate directly in the event and were cheered on today by Sciennes P4 pupils and families in the Meadows as the second leg took over to Leamington Basin where they then handed the baton to pupils from Tollcross. The third leg saw the baton taken by canoe! The Secondary School pupils were nominated by their schools and have been training for the upcoming challenge. The event is being organised by the Sports and Outdoor Learning Unit in The City of Edinburgh Council and has been funded by a National Lottery, Celebrate It 2014 grant and we are grateful to former Sciennes teacher and now Principal Teacher of Outdoor Learning, Barry Hewitt, for inviting us to take part. It was wonderful to meet up with Benmore Instructor Angela Kerr joining the procession.
The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Donald Wilson, said, “With less than 40 days to go until the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh’s young people from across the city are showing huge interest in Glasgow 2014 and support for Team Scotland. This follows the tremendous celebrations over the weekend for the arrival of the Queen’s Baton in Edinburgh. The city is playing a major part in the Games with the diving events taking place at the Royal Commonwealth Pool. On behalf of the city and all of the school children taking part in the City 2 City School Relay, I wish our Glasgow neighbours the very best of luck and support for what will be a fantastic summer of sport in Scotland.”

Glasgow's Lord Provost, Councillor Sadie Docherty, said, "This is a wonderful way to celebrate the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and I look forward to welcoming the baton and the young people to Glasgow.  It's lovely to see so many people from all over Scotland embracing the Games and in their own unique way. I wish everyone involved in the City to City relay a very safe and enjoyable journey."

The baton is due to arrive at the Glasgow City Chambers in George Square on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30pm, where the participants will be greeted by the Lord Provost of Glasgow and the baton will be handed over.

More photographs on the P4 Class Page.