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Smethwick Baths

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 […]

Defining sport, leisure and recreation

SPORT The framework for Sport in England – ‘Making England an Active and Successful Sporting Nation: A Vision for 2020’ adopts the definition and description established by the Council of Europe Sports Charter in 1993: “Sport means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness […]

Stretford Sports Centre

Stretford opened in 1972. Its location, sandwiched between Manchester United Football Stadium and Old Trafford Cricket Ground, may appear glamorous but in reality meant the need for car park stewards on match days! The centre was sited immediately adjacent to Stretford Technical College but was operated completely independent of it. The College had priority booking […]

Harlow Leisurezone 2016

The new centre at Harlow was brought on line in May 2010 and has proven to be very successful. To understand today’s success at Harlow Leisurezone is to not only acknowledge everything that has gone before, but to pay homage to it! HDST since its early conception back in 1957 has benefited from many individuals […]

Harlow Sportcentre the middle years: 1973-2005

MAY 7th 1973, the first Community Sports Centre in the UK, Harlow Sportcentre. Not the most imaginative of names I thought as I started my first day of a new career. I wonder how much goes on here in this ugly breezeblock building. It certainly didn’t look very inspiring. But not to worry I’ll get […]

A wider perspective on sport and leisure – by Terry Mack

“There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune…” The emergence of the Sport and Leisure centres may have been a phenomenon of the second half of the 20th Century but the increase in the general public’s demand for physical activities was present throughout the whole […]

Practical realities of sports centre operation

Leatherhead Leisure Centre comprises a swimming pool complex, sports hall, six squash courts, indoor bowls, club rooms and social suite.  In its first years of opening (1975/77) the operation of the centre involved the following: Procession 10,000 members annually. Collecting £4,000 per week. 10,000 users per week of whom 45% were non-members. Dealing with 700 […]

Summerland and Maysfield – two terrible sports and leisure tragedies

Summerland – Isle of Man – August 1973 Although not strictly a sports centre, the family entertainment complex was the scene of a fire in which 50 people died, 80 were injured and nearly 3000 escaped. An enquiry established that the initial source of the fire was a result of smoking by young children. Key […]

Lightfoot Sports Centre – very early programming reflections

The first management requirement was to ensure that the local communities’ needs were met as ‘outsiders’ would have monopolised the facility given the chance! The presence of outdoor pitches enabled a policy of ‘no indoor football’. The programming of the indoor spaces was rationed in order to provide for different sports, and different types of […]

The Squash Story

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 […]

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