Place Name
A corruption of William Penny Brookes (August 13, 1809 – December 11, 1895), who initiated the Wenlock Games in 1850, which is seen as an inspiration for the Modern Olympics. Penny Brookes spent his life in the market town of Much Wenlock, Shropshire, where he became concerned with the plight of the working classes. He formed the Wenlock Agricultural Reading Society (WARS) in 1841 to educate the locals and this later involved the creation of an Olympian Class to encourage physical exercise. He ran several games before in 1860 the athletic grouping broke off from the original society to form the Wenlock Olympian Society. His lifelong campaign to get Physical Education on the school curriculum brought him into contact with Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Olympics who also has a street named after him locally. East Village was built on the site of the former Athletes’ Village which was redeveloped on former industrial land. Stratford underwent a huge amount of new development ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Many new streets were created and named after this global celebration of sport.
