Waltham Abbey Leisure Centre Official Opening

The Waltham Abbey community joined together to celebrate the official opening of its brand new leisure centre

Waltham Abbey Leisure Centre in Essex celebrated its official opening on Saturday 15^th June, welcoming over 1,000 people through its doors throughout the day.

Residents of the Waltham Abbey community along with representatives from Epping Forest District Council, Places Leisure, Pellikaan Construction and Pozzoni joined together to mark the occasion with a plaque unveiling and ribbon cutting ceremony by Former Olympic Swimmer and TV presenter Sharron Davies and the Chairman of Epping Forest District Council, Cllr Richard Bassett.

Councillor Bassett said, “I was delighted to officially open our new leisure centre. After much hard work it’s wonderful to see it completed and our residents enjoying the excellent facilities on offer. I would like to thank everyone involved in the creation of this marvellous centre and believe it’s a great asset to the local area. We’ve had a positive response from residents with over 2000 members already signed up. Along with our partners we have created a modern facility where members of the local community can come together to get active and stay healthy.”

Sharron Davies added, “It’s fantastic to see such a modern and welcoming leisure facility which gives the local community the opportunity to take part in a variety of activities and learn new skills. It’s a place for everybody.”

The centre also held an Oceans of Fun event which offered free spaces to kids aged 7 to 14 years to experience different aquatic sports such as mini water polo, synchronised swimming and fast swimming. The event was offered as part of a collaboration between leading swimming brand Zoggs campaign and Total Swimming set up by Olympian Steve Parry. It aims to inspire more children to actively get involved in aquatic sports. The afternoon consisted of skills and games across the different aquatic disciplines with every participant getting the chance to try each of the activities by rotating through the stations. Attendees also received expert training advice from Olympic Swimmer Grant Turner who competed in the London 2012 games and Team GB synchronised swimmer Genevieve Randall.

The community facility, which first opened to the public in November last year, has already proved popular, welcoming over 150k visitors to date and more than doubling gym memberships within its first 8 weeks of opening. Chris McCarthy, General Manager for Places Leisure said, “It’s been fantastic to see so many of our local residents and community groups enjoying everything that the new centre has offer. Fitness, sport and health. Whatever place you’re into we have something for you. You can learn a new skill, get back into a sport, improve your fitness or continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and the social benefits of sport and activity are terrific too.”