CIMSPA takes the sport and leisure centre story forward

CIMSPA has taken guardianship of the Sports Leisure Legacy website – a comprehensive history of the development of the UK’s community sport and leisure centres and the recreation management profession this initiated.

The project was conceived in 2013 by Gerry Carver, founder of L&R International and a former centre manager and leisure director, working with an editorial group of those who were part of this story. It chronicles the history of public sport and recreation facilities in the UK.

The project website is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to this story, providing a vital resource for anyone interested in or researching the history of today’s sport and physical activity sector.

The narrative highlights key milestones in the creation of sport, leisure and recreation facilities that, for the first time, were available to all sections of the general public.

The first sports hall intended for community use opened in Harlow in 1964, followed by Afan Lido, the Lightfoot Centre in the North East and Bracknell Sports Centre. The website chronicles how these early leaders opened up decades of sport and recreation facility development across the UK.

Commenting on the completion of the project, and its new guardianship by CIMSPA, Gerry Carver said:

“After seven years of preparation, I am delighted that the Sports Leisure Legacy website is passing into the long-term guardianship of CIMSPA. There could be no better professional guardian of the history of sports and leisure centres.

“The centres have become a social phenomenon over the last six decades. Researching and assembling the story has been like piecing together a thousand-piece jigsaw. The professional experience, contributions and unstinting support of the Editorial Advisory Group and others have provided excellent rigour to the record.

“In going forward, the past trends and changes in the provision and operation of sports and leisure centres recorded should be helpful to current planners, designers and managers, even if only as broadly indicative experiences.

“We hope that visitors to the website will learn of the challenging journey of centres from 1964 to 2023 and will encourage others to login. The website is freely accessible to all.”

Tara Dillon, CIMSPA CEO added:

“CIMSPA is honoured to be part of ensuring the future of the Sports Leisure Legacy website.

“I would like to thank Gerry Carver for his vision and immense work in bringing this fascinating story of the history of sport and leisure in the UK to life.

“The story of the growth in public access to recreation and leisure facilities is both a brilliant piece of social history and also the origin story of what is now CIMSPA. The professional bodies that grew to support those leading sport and recreation throughout this story were the founder institutes of CIMSPA, so the project is also a map of our DNA as a chartered professional body.”

Find out more

Explore the Sports Leisure Legacy website

Find out more about the editorial background of how the Project worked