Diving straight into business at the Leisure Centre
It's summertime and the vibe is good in Bailieboro, with shops and businesses welcoming customers back. Many in the community eagerly await the reopening of the Bailieborough Leisure Centre and swimming pool, which is due to open its doors on June 8.
The team is buzzing with enthusiasm at the prospect of opening the doors at 7am next Tuesday morning, particularly since, at one point, it looked as though the complex might not reopen.
There are close to 1,000 members on the books and the drive is now on to increase that membership even further.
The chairman of the Board of Management at the Centre, Paul McFadden, told the Celt that a lot of preparatory work has been completed to ensure everything goes smoothly. The community-run facility has been in place in Bailieboro for the past 21 years.
“It's been a long journey to get here. There was a lot of uncertainty at the start but, with the support and help of our local representatives, we have managed to get to this day, where we have sufficient funds to reopen the centre. We received over €200,000 in funding from the various funding streams,” revealed Mr McFadden.
“Hopefully, now with the support of our customers and the dedication of our hard working staff, we will make major strides in returing to the position we were in prior to Covid. The funding has allowed us to put in a new computer system, which facilitates online booking,” he added.
Mr McFadden said, when facilities at the centre are fully operational, the approximate turnover is in the region of €450,000 annually, and a big percentage of that goes on wages and heating.
In order to cut down on costs, the team at the centre cover the entire pool surface at night with a special canvas cover to retain heat.
The swimming lessons for children are always popular and also generate future members. The gym has always been widely used by students and many others in the community.
New classes
Linda Ledwith was the duty manager for the past 20 years at the centre and takes over as manager.
“We have a fantastic staff and board of management here at the centre and they will do their utmost to keeping the place going. We will now be endeavouring to generate more revenue by ensuring all our facilities are fully utilised and putting on additional classes, including indoor and outdoor classes," she said.
The large studio space with its smooth wooden floor could be used for classes like step aerobics, circuit classes and high intensity interval training.
Linda explained that some practitioners also rent the space to deliver classes such as Pilates.
The plan is to open the centre from 7am but Linda says, if enough members want to use it from 6am, they will consider it - maybe even for two mornings a week.
READ MORE