By John Birch The early years 1945-1970 Although established for a different purpose, National Sports Centres have played a part in the development of the indoor sports centre. The first two National Sports Centres, Bisham Abbey and Lilleshall were based upon large country houses. Bisham Abbey, the first Centre to be opened, in 1946, […]
Derek Casey was born and educated in Scotland. In 1978-79, as a Scottish Sports Council Officer together with Mike Hornby, he was closely involved in ‘A Question of Balance’, a major survey of Scottish Sports Centres (see Chapter 6 – 6.2.1). Later, as the Chief Executive of the Sports Council and Sport England from 1994 […]
It was late in the autumn of 1964 that I had a phone call from Peter McIntosh, who at the time was the Senior Inspector of Physical Education for London County Council asking was I interested in applying for the post of Research Officer for the Central Council of Physical Recreation. I was at that […]
Bernard Peter Atha amazingly trod the boards on stage, sport, the arts and above all in Local Government for six decades. Bernard is a former Lord Mayor of Leeds and is a major figure in the arts and sport in West Yorkshire and elsewhere; he has also appeared in several films. Bernard Atha was born […]
John is an architect by profession. He was Head of the Sports Council’s Technical Unit for Sport for 21 years and lead author of the Council’s ‘Handbook of Sport and Recreation Building Design’ which influenced the development of many centres. He was also a leader of the Standardised Approach to Sports Halls (SASH) project. He […]
Mike studied at Oxford University, where he obtained a B.Litt. (1964) and MA (Urban Geography) (1970). From 1966 to 1970 he was a town planner for the London Borough of Haringey, and he obtained a Diploma in Town Planning at the Central London Polytechnic in 1970. In that same year he moved to work at […]
Historically…the personal recollections and reflections of Bryan ‘Griff’ Jones …the UK’s first known ‘Dual Use’ Sports Centre Manager …and the first UK manager of a leisure centre with a leisure pool Manager – Breeze Hill School Sports Centre 1966-68 Director – The Grove Sports Centre, Balderton, Nottinghamshire 1968-71 Manager – Bletchley Leisure Centre, Milton Keynes […]
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 […]
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