Hundreds of people have already joined the new South Hunsley Sports Club, at South Hunsley School, near Melton, whose brand new £3.5m facilities are being officially opened by Olympic swimmer Nick Gillingham on Thursday.
Grants – including £1.55m f
rom the Big Lottery – have paid for a new sports hall, dance studio, fitness suite, a 6m climbing wall and changing facilities, for use both by pupils and the community.
The facilities include a new system will soon allow gym users to chart their own progress on the gym's 44 pieces of equipment via their own computer at home.
Air-conditioned throughout, the sports hall can be used for football, basketball and badminton.
The once tatty swimming pool has been renovated from the foundations upwards, and now uses an ultraviolet system, with extremely low chlorine, which is far kinder on people prone to skin rashes.
A grant from the Football Foundation, with contributions from the council, the school and the PTA, will pay for a full-size, floodlit pitch with third generation synthetic grass, which is due to open this autumn.
Eventually the facility aims to be self-financing, with any profit being reinvested in the school.
Manager John McDonald said: "If you look at the area there are thousands of new houses that have gone up in places like Brough and Welton and this is a fantastic opportunity for the local community," he said.
Word has been spreading quickly and the club has already done 300 inductions with the aim eventually of building up to a 1,000-strong membership.
Mr Gillingham was at one time the world's number one for 200m breaststroke and at different stages in a distinguished career set three world, 10 European, nine Commonwealth and 17 British records.
alex.wood@ypn.co.uk
