Two teams of charity cyclists arrive in London today having ridden all the way from Europe to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A group of 150 orange-clad Dutch cyclists will pitch up at the Oranjecamping site in Walthamstow at 3pm this afternoon. They’re sportive cyclists on a tour organised by The Royal Dutch Cycling Federation (KNWU) that saw them ride from Utrecht, via Hoek of Holland and Harwich to London. Their arrival heralds a week of Olympic celebrations at Heineken House in Alexandra Palace. The cycling team is led by Olympic snowboarding champion Nicolien Sauerbreij and accompanied by the illustrious Dutch umpa band Kleintje Pils.

Another group of 20 cyclists from the Austrian Tirol will reach London Bridge today after their eight-day, 1,300km charity ride from Innsbruck. The ride was in aid of British charity Disability Snowsport UK (DSUK).

Supporting the Tirol cycle team at the start was the UK’s Heather Mills, hopeful for the Paralympic Games in Sochi 2014 for the British Disabled Ski Team, who joined them as they set off from the Bergisel stadium. During the ride’s final stage from Ramsgate to Tower Bridge, British sport personalities will join including BBC Ski Sunday presenter Graham Bell and ex GB ski racer Konrad Bartelski.

The Tirol team’s arrival coincides in with the official opening of the Olympic hospitality house, Austria House Tirol, at Trinity House.

The Dutch Church was established by Royal Charter from King Edward VI who granted religious freedom to Protestant Dutch refugees fleeing Spanish occupation of the Netherlands.

For our World in London series, I spoke to Frank Dekker, Chair of the Church Council and Trustee, about the Dutch Church’s role in London’s Dutch community:

“We want to be a place where Dutch people can come and feel at home whether through music, as a meeting place, or through religion.

“Most of what we do is in Dutch. We are open to all but our members are predominantly Dutch. Services are in Dutch and we organise six city lunches a year. At these, prominent Dutch people give a talk and it is a networking event afterwards. We get up to 200 people at these, depending on the speaker. We want to enable like-minded people to meet.”

The Dutch Church has played a huge role in the lives of Dutch people emigrating to London over the years, particularly after the Second World War, as Frank explains:

“If you look back at the generation that arrived after the Second World War, a lot has changed. It was a major step back then and the church provided an anchor to their Dutchness. Now, people come for one or two years to study or on a business assignment and can easily jump on a plane and be home in two or three hours. So it’s less of an upheaval and we are less of an anchor. But we still aim to be a home to the Dutch community.”

So, can anyone attend the Dutch Church?

“You don’t need a Dutch passport to get in! Any English people are welcome – we would host them just as they’ve hosted us all these years. We have people from South Africa and Belgium and sometimes other countries. Anyone is welcome, but our attendees are predominantly Dutch.”

And with 2012 on the horizon, the church is hoping to play an important to role for those new to London once again:

“The Dutch Tourist Board expects 40,000 Dutch people [will visit London] every day during the Olympics. We have used it as a time to renovate. We want to be a real centre of Dutchness – not just with religion but with culture, music and, again, to be a home to the Dutch community whether they are here for a day or permanently.”

Have you been to the Dutch Church? Do you know of any other Dutch experiences in London? Let us know in the comments below.