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 […]
Concordia LEISURE CENTRE and BLYTH SPORTS CENTRE Cramlington Leisure Centre was the working title before the council decided to name the centre Concordia. Cramlington was the growth point of South Northumberland. It was a New Town being developed entirely by private developers. The contribution by the district council (Blyth Valley) to the town’s development was […]
There had been a market in Covent Garden since the mid seventeenth century, so the Jubilee Hall was a relatively recent addition, being completed in 1904 (although construction had begun in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee). Built by the Duke of Bedford to house foreign cut flowers, it later specialised in potatoes, […]
As in the rest of the UK in the 1960s, little had changed in Scotland in terms of sports provision since the Victorian age and the early 20th century. However, the country was changing, largely driven forward by the growth of the middle classes post Second World War. This social phenomenon in Scotland and throughout […]
Smethwick Baths – still going strong in 2019……….. as Smethwick Swimming Centre for Sandwell Leisure Trust Smethwick Baths was Britain’s first genuinely Modern (style of abstract art deco) baths. Designed by Chester Button and Borough Engineer Roland Fletcher the building perfectly captures the spirit of the age. With its tall parabolic arches the design of […]
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