From its origins in the mid 19th Century, the sport of Squash was largely the preserve of the privileged few from the public schools and the traditional universities. Courts often existed either as stand-alone buildings or as a block of 2 courts, frequently in conjunction with sports such as Tennis, Cricket, and Hockey, as part […]
It’s not every manager that gets to open a new centre. If that is not enough at Concordia we also got to have an official opening by HM Queen during her Sliver Jubilee Tour. As manager I would say that the public opening of the Centre was the most daunting but the official opening is […]
The first ‘benchmark’ in the operational management of centres came as early as September 1968 when a Recreation Managers Symposium was held at Billingham Forum. This was a forerunner to the forthcoming formation of the Association of Recreation Managers. This was to be a new professional institute that, initially, was almost entirely focused on sports […]
Roger Quinton was a founding Committee and Council Member of both the Association of Recreation Managers and the Institute of Leisure & Amenity Management (forerunners of CIMSPA). Roger edited a dozen of the early editions of its ARM News and was elected Chairman of the Association of Recreation Managers in 1976-77, and then again in […]
George Torkildsen was the founding father of recreation management and a pioneering ambassador for leisure. George was the first indoor community sports centre manager in the UK and went on to become the most influential manager, motivator, thinker, writer and consultant across the sports and leisure scene over a period of 40 years. He was […]
“Sport is the most precious commodity we have to hand on to the next generation” – Ron Pickering Ron Pickering is probably best known to the wider world as an athletics coach and commentator. He coached Lynn Davies to Olympic gold in 1964 and as Welsh national coach inspired a generation of athletes. As a […]
For over 30 years Jimmy Munn was one of the foremost influences on sports and leisure provision and its values and importance. Jimmy hailed from Ardrossan and his background in Scotland was the backbone of his leisure philosophy. He trained as a PE teacher and taught in Kilmarnock and Bristol. It was then as head […]
Denis Molyneux represents the Project’s earliest connection with the ‘birth’ of the UK sports centre, which followed the Report of the Wolfenden Committee in 1960. Denis was later a member of the Working Party that produced ‘Planning for Sport’ in 1968. These two reports set the national agenda for subsequent sports provision, not least sports […]
Harry Littlewood can truly be regarded as a “game-changer” in the recreation management and sports centre story. His contributions to the early development of sports centres and the recreation profession cannot be underestimated. Harry was born into a mining family in Derbyshire, he was an active sportsman in his youth where he played County rugby […]
Denis Howell was the first UK Minister for Sport and played the foremost political role in the establishment of The Sports Council following the Wolfenden Report in 1960. His influence on the sporting scene was enormous. He was a Birmingham City Councillor between 1946 and 1956, MP for Birmingham All Saints from 1955-59 and for […]
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