It was a crazy morning. At 9.30am on Tuesday, we would find out who had won the Mayor Of London’s very first Borough of Culture award.

Stuck behind a snow truck at 9.20am, I knew I wouldn’t make the Polka Theatre, who had kindly agreed to host the gathering for the announcement.

I headed to Cannizaro House to meet my Wimbledon bloggers who were listening on their phones to Sadiq Khan's speech.

As Waltham Forest and Brent was declared the first London Boroughs of Culture, we were about to turn off our phones and return to our coffee, when we heard ‘Merton!’ ‘Last but not least’ the Mayor of London announced, was the 6th borough to win the Cultural Impact Award!

Not quite sure what this meant, we diligently scanned Twitter. We soon found out that Merton will be awarded a grant to host a year-long festival of film, consisting of 24 short film seasons at pop-up locations across the borough.

With a pre-arranged party being held in the evening, I was quite relieved there was something awesome to celebrate.

I walked into a room of 60 guests who had all played an integral role in the bid. With feet tapping to music by Crown Lane studios and Morden musicians, I bumped straight into the man himself John Merriman, who had led Merton to success.

‘This is such an exciting beginning for cultures coming together in Merton’ he declared.

John kindly took his time to explain how the bid began with 200 creatives in Merton pleading with the council to put in a bid to apply for the borough of culture awards.

Merton Council listened, agreed and decided to fully back the process.

Leader of the council Stephen Alambritis was full of praise. He said: "It is all down to the brilliant community we have here in Merton’ and wanted to thank everyone involved for making it happen."

Sarah Tanburn, who wrote the bid, was delighted with the result. She said: "Merton will run an astonishing film programme for residents and film producers. An exciting time for those interested in emerging technology."

It certainly was a celebratory event, as guests enjoyed beer from Wimbledon Brewery whilst listening to beat boxer Conrad Murray with rapper Paul Cree.

I left quite late that night with the same smile as everyone else, but I was especially pleased that the morning snow truck had cleared the road for me to get home safely.

@LadyWimbledon

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