WITH construction just past the half-way mark, residents of Leigh Park are seeing their new community centre take shape. 
The facility has been planned for over a decade, with a number of setbacks and disappointments, but the vision is now becoming a reality.
Situated on the land neighbouring Palomino Place, Leigh Park Community Centre will provide a wide range of facilities and flexible space. Building started at the beginning of June and with construction on track, completion is anticipated for mid-November. So far, the structure and brickwork of the building has been completed; the roof was finished last week, and constructors have started to fit windows, services, and internal partitions.
Persimmon, who is the principal developer of the Leigh Park estate, is funding the centre as part of a section 106 planning agreement. The Leigh Park Community Association continues to be involved in planning the centre, but once construction is complete, a new limited company will take over the building and offer it to local clubs and organisations.
John Rogers has been involved in the development of the centre for over a decade and is now calling on volunteers to get involved in helping to run the new facility. He said, “I’ve been involved in this for 13 years, and so to see it being built is a dream come true! I feel that it is part of the infrastructure of the estate.”
The centre will have a main hall space which can be subdivided into smaller separate rooms, office space for small meetings, commercial kitchen facilties, and a coffee bar. Additional parking will also help ease congestion on the estate, particularly during the school run.
Provisional bookings for the hall include slimming clubs, health and exercise activities such as tai chi and zumba, children’s playgroups, church groups, a stroke group and a drama group.
John said, “We are looking for more people to join us to run the centre. People won’t get paid, but they’ll get the satisfaction of having an input and doing the job well. I’m looking for trustees; we’ll need people with good financial backgrounds, marketing skills, sales skills, people to deal with enquiries, people to organise events, other volunteers, and people to organise the volunteers. It is my aim to make it a pristine operation!”
If you would like to get involved you are invited to come to the association’s AGM on 19th October at Westbury Leigh Community Hall at 7.00pm to find out more. Alternatively, you can contact John on 01373 858 377 or ghost buster@btinternet.com
