Olympic swimmer opens Milnthorpe school's sports centre (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Olympic swimmer opens Milnthorpe school's sports centre

11:10am Friday 12th March 2010 in

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OLYMPIC swimmer Keri-Anne Payne praised Dallam School’s strong sporting tradition as she opened the school’s £4m sports centre.

The 22-year-old Olympic silver medalist cut the ribbon to cheers from Dallam students and pupils from five local primary schools as they gathered together for a day of sporting activities.

The state-of-the-art centre includes a multi-court sports hall, gymnasium, fitness room, mirrored dance studio, changing rooms and astro-turf pitches.

“We are very grateful to Cumbria County Council for financing this wonderful development,” said headteacher Steve Holdup. “Sport is very strong at Dallam and the students are making great use of the facilities. Keri-Anne was tremendously motivational. What better than an Olympian to celebrate our 25th anniversary with us by opening our new sports centre.”

Miss Payne said: “It is absolutely fantastic the facilities they have here. Miles ahead of other schools I have seen. The kids are so lucky as they have such an opportunity to excel in whichever sport they choose.”

Mr Holdup added that the centre is being well used by the local Milnthorpe community.

“We have classes running 10am to 10pm everyday for local people and we want them to feel that the centre is as much theirs as it is ours,” he said.

Alex Woodburn, teacher at Milnthorpe Primary School said: “Our children are already making good use of the sports hall with badminton classes and there are a lot of facilities here that we just can’t provide the children with at our school. By visiting the centre, the young children also have an easier transition to secondary school because they get used to being around bigger kids.”

A-level PE student Laurence Stannard said he was very impressed with the new facilities.

“I use them every day and I love it because there’s so much to do, from football to table tennis. It has definitely made students more enthusiastic about sport and is being used all day and night,” he said.

After an afternoon of coaching students from Storth, Milnthorpe, Arnside, Heversham and Dean Barwick, Witherslack, schools, Miss Payne spent the evening with Dallam students and talked about her experiences as an Olympic competitor.

She also presented sports awards and Higher Sports Leadership awards.

Rooms at the centre are now available to hire and members of the public can become members of the fitness suite. Anyone interested should contact sports centre manager, Jonathan Holden on 015395 65156 after 3.30 pm.