South Leeds plans 'mock Olympics' torch-run to highlight lack of local sports facilities
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Version 0 of 1. Residents protesting about the closure of their local sports centre in<br />Leeds are set to hold their own April Fool's Day mock 'Olympic torch<br />run' to highlight the lack of facilities in their community. The protesters, from the deprived Beeston and Holbeck inner city areas<br />of Leeds, will hold the event just months before the real Olympic<br />torch is carried through the area in June prior to the London 2012<br />Olympic Games. The South Leeds Sports Centre and swimming pool closed in November<br />2010, with cash-strapped Leeds council citing falling user numbers and<br />rising costs. A planned community takeover has since failed due to the<br />high costs involved Campaigner Sally Cieslik, from the Splashback group fighting to get<br />the boarded-up centre reopened, said the protest highlighted the need<br />for basic sports provision in the community at a time when the country<br />is about to celebrate a summer of sport with the Olympics. She says: We need to get the youngest members of our community taking part in regular sport activities, and having them available outside school hours as well as within the school day would be a great start. It would give our young people a chance of becoming the Olympians of the future - at the moment we are unlikely to get anyone further than their own sitting room. Holbeck and Beeston continue to lack local facilities that a swimming pool and sports centre provide. Places for young people to meet to keep fit and enjoy swimming and sport, leisure and fun activities, including swimming, martial arts, team games and fitness regimes are not available. Life expectancy in South Leeds is still considerably lower than in the more affluent north of the city and a local, vibrant sports centre would go a long way to start closing the gap. Cieslik said April Fools Day was chosen to highlight the 'folly' of<br />closing the facilities and hoped many members of the community would join in and walk, run or jog in the hour-long event which will tour Beeston and Holbeck. Leeds council is exploring the possibility of building a new primary<br />school on the site to meet a growing demand for places in the area - and is also open to other organisations taking over and running sports facilities on the site. Divers from Russia, Australia and the USA will be using the Aquatics Centre at the John Charles Centre for Sport, which is also in south Leeds, as a training base. The London Olympics will start in 121 days. <em>South Leeds Life</em> blog also carries a guest post from the protesters about their event. |