Finishing touches take root at Kirkby Leisure Centre
Ahead of Kirkby Leisure Centre’s Community Celebration weekend on 11&12 March, a tree-planting ceremony took place on Monday 27 February to commemorate the planting of the very first tree on the site.
Ashfield District Councillors including Leader Jason Zadrozny attended the event alongside Lorenzo Clark from leisure partner Everyone Active and Phil Woodward, Kier Site Manager.
A total of ten trees are set to be planted as part of the Centre’s £15.5m total investment. The trees planted are named Tilia cordata, more commonly known as Littleleaf Linden. The trees are set to be planted by the end of the week.
A new car-park is also currently being built which will accommodate 89 cars. Building works are set to be complete by May 2023.
The state-of-the-art Centre is run in partnership between Ashfield District Council and leisure operator Everyone Active. In January 2023 the Centre welcomed its 100,000th visitor and membership numbers continue to grow.
The community celebration event is set to mark the successful first six months of Kirkby Leisure Centre after it officially opened in August 2022. The weekend of 11&12 March will be open to all Ashfield residents for a range of free and fun activities. Bookable activities will run from 9am–5.00pm on Saturday 11 March and include free gym and swimming sessions, soft play, indoor fun-climbing, cookery demonstrations, face painting and balloon modelling. On Sunday two family films, Matilda the Musical (12.30pm) and Eddie The Eagle (3.30pm) will be shown. Tickets cost just £2 per person per film.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Jason Zadrozny said:
“It was an honour to be involved in planting the first of many trees at the site - a reminder that as they set their roots, we hope the new facility grows to be part of the Kirkby community in the same way as the old Festival Hall was. We look forward to all the works being completed and fully open for local people to enjoy in the coming months."
The full activity programme and details of how to book onto the Celebration Weekend will be live, on a first-come first-served basis, from Saturday 4 March.
