Author: Ian Cooper, Director of Leisure Services, Cambridge City Council (1992 – 1999) 1. Introduction 1.1. This case study highlights the difficulties of replacing major public sports facilities in an era when commercial partnerships were all the rage and trusts were in their infancy. The Cambridge facilities discussed have several unique elements and it […]
Northumberland provides an example of how publicly provided leisure centres came to be developed in an area with a two tier structure of local government. Northumberland is the northern most county in England. It is primarily rural with a long coastline on its eastern edge. The county has a relatively weak economy compared with other […]
A report compiled by Bernard Warden Sports organiser for the programmes Sportstown started in 1973 with a request and meeting with Alan Hart the then the Head of Sport for the BBC to discuss an idea he had about an inter Sports Centre competition. The meeting was to discuss an idea to highlight Sports Centres […]
This list covers the majority of leisure pools identified in the Project research, but not all, we assume. ENGLAND 1974 Bletchley (February) Rotherham (March) Whitley Bay (April) (freestanding) 1975 Colchester Leisure World 1976 Oasis, Swindon 1977 Concordia Cramlington South Shields (freestanding) Northgate Arena Chester Putteridge Luton 1978 Crowtree Sunderland Broxbourne 1979 Thornbury Bristol 1981 […]
I think I may have been the exception to the rule when way back in 1978 I told my careers teacher that I wanted to work in a leisure centre. To be fair there weren’t many around back then and he told me that I probably knew more than him about that! I had visited […]
From a short background of teaching in London I saw great opportunity following local government re-organisation in the mid ‘70’s to join an industry which promised huge growth. My first step was to be appointed Leisure Research Officer at one of the Greater Manchester (GM) local authorities. Identifying and mapping all leisure and cultural facilities […]
In 1970 AFC Bournemouth, an aspiring third division soccer club were getting some gates of 15,000 plus with seating for only 4,000 spectators in an elderly stand. A completely new stadium project had been conceived and approved by the local planning authority despite some initial planning difficulties in the local community (resolved by an intervention […]
Osprey Leisure Centre is a community leisure facility, located within the village of Castletown. First known as the Boscawen Centre, it was originally built in the 1980s as a physical and recreational training centre for Royal Naval personnel based at Portland. When the Royal Navy closed their final operations on the island in 1999, the […]
Some smaller councils, both Parish and Town Councils, have played a part at times in pioneering centre developments. Parish and Town Councils have always been active in the sphere of community leisure, though generally this has tended to focus on small-scale local provision such as allotments, recreation grounds and sports pitches, children’s play areas, public […]
With the opening of a comprehensive range of indoor sport and recreation facilities in November 1976, which had been bolted on to their existing Pools complex, Crawley Borough Council found themselves operating one of the most comprehensive sports centres in the UK at that time. The facilities comprised – two Court sports hall, small multi-purpose […]
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