North Coast Leisure Centre celebrates Leader grant award

Managers of the North Coast Leisure Centre at Bettyhill are celebrating the award of a £54,180 grant from the Leader Programme.

The funding will go towards the costs of a two-year Community Development Project which will see the centre expand its activities. The centre serves an 800 square mile area.

Contributions towards the total £85,000 costs of the new programme have also come from other charitable bodies including the Robertson Trust (£24,000) and the Daniel Trust (£5,000).

The Friends of the North Coast Leisure Centre contributed £1,000 and North Coast Leisure itself, along with a local tradesman, put up £1,700.

Tongue and Farr Sports Association company secretary Jim Johnston said: "Leader’s decision to fund our project not only secures the future of the pool but also allows us to carry out refurbishment work and provide more services."

Mr Johnston said a significant proportion of the funding would go towards the appointment of a Community Development Officer who would be given the task of managing the planned refurbishment and expansion.

Work planned to start immediately an appointment is made includes an upgrade of the changing rooms, minor alterations to the pool hall, rejuvenation of the reception area, installation of a pool side hoist, the modernisation of the pool’s advertising materials and the building of a community web site to integrate and enhance the promotion of the pool and its place.

Mr Johnston said: "Further down the line will hopefully come the further greening of the pool through the recycling of water and increased use of renewable energy, its establishment as a centre of excellence for physical therapy and, if all goes well, the holy grail could be the creation of a community games hall on the site, a plan first mooted at the opening of the pool in April 1995."

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