One year on from its launch, Ashfield's flagship leisure facility – Lammas Leisure Centre, in Sutton - has encouraged thousands more local people in to sport.
The spectacular new leisure centre was opened in November 2008 by double Olympic gold medallist, Dame Kelly Holmes, and since then has been a major draw for both experienced sports people and those looking to adopt a more active lifestyle. More than 600,000 people visited the Lammas over the last 12 months.
Construction of The Lammas Leisure Centre was wholly funded by Ashfield District Council, and boasts two swimming pools, an ice rink, a bowls hall, two squash courts, a four-court main sports hall, three multi-function rooms and a fitness suite.
Latest figures show that the 604,000 visitors in the first year was over 180,000 more than the combined total for the two sites which Lammas Leisure Centre replaced – Sutton Centre and Sutton Pools.
One of the most notable successes has been in the swimming pools where numbers have been given an added boost by the Council’s Free Swim Initiative. From the opening day residents aged 60 years and over were offered free swimming and after five months this was extended to include children of 16 years and younger. To date the free swim initiative has attracted over 17,300 swimmers – 12,449 16 and under and 4,893 60 and over.
Swimming lessons for youngsters have also been on the rise – the pools are now hosting lessons for 1,768 children each week through the Everyone Active swim scheme. This is an increase of 600 children on those attending the closed Sutton Pools complex.
Lammas Leisure Centre has become a very popular place to get fit, with 2,900 registered members – 1,800 more than had registered at the two closed sites.
In the bowls hall there have been 18,500 visits during the first year, and in the skating rink 834 children of all ages have taken part in the nationally-recognised Skate UK ice skating lessons – 250 more than took part at Sutton Leisure Centre.
Commenting on the first year of The Lammas Leisure Centre, Ashfield Diustrict Council’s Head of Community and Economic Promotion, Frank Horsley, said: “The excitement generated by the opening of this fantastic facility has been sustained by these excellent usage figures. We are delighted that The Lammas Leisure Centre has been instrumental in encouraging so many more people to take part in sporting activity in Ashfield.”