Westcroft Centre - The New Look
Pupils at All Saints’ Primary School in Carshalton dug deep to leave a little piece of history under the foundations of the new Westcroft Leisure Centre & Carshalton Library.
As work continues on the refurbishment of the leisure centre and new library, the children made a time capsule to let young people of the future know what it was like to grow up in Sutton in 2012. Items in the time capsule, which was buried on 27 March, include a lunch menu, school tie, class photo, and stories and artwork the pupils had created. Everyone Active, which runs the centre on behalf of Sutton Council, also added an old group exercise programme, and an Everyone Active membership card. An Olympic pinbadge, featuring Honeywood Museum, Honeywood Walk, was also placed in the capsule.
The school, of which Cllr. Jill Whitehead is a Governor, is the closest to the centrewhich is undergoing a multi-million pound renovation. Work is underway and the project is on course for completion by early next year. Since the centre closed in October to allow the revamp to get under way, a team of up to 50 workers have been busy on the project. Hundreds of tonnes of rubble have been removed, the old pools have been demolished and asbestos from the 1970s building has been carefully disposed of. Sports, gym and office equipment have also been dismantled to use in the new centre. The 600,000 users who visit Westcroft every year have transferred to the borough’s three other leisure centres, Cheam, Sutton Arena and the Phoenix Centre, as well as to Carshalton College, Sutton Junior Tennis Centre and Sutton High School. Cheam and Sutton Arena have received a £950,000 refurbishment at no cost to the taxpayer to help them cope with the extra demand while Westcroft is shut. Work is now focussed on the main pool, which is continuing to take shape, and key steel works began this week. The refurbishment comes after a condition report revealed millions would have to be spent just to keep the 30-year-old centre running. Other improvements include an eight badminton court-sized sports hall, a 170 workout station gym, a creche, café, IT facilities and a new library replacing the current Carshalton Library.
Cllr. Graham Tope, Executive Member for Community Safety , Leisure and Libraries at Sutton Council, said: “With the Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee both taking place this year, 2012 is going to remembered for a long time to come, so it’s great that in the future, children will be able to find out about life in Carshalton today. “The pupils picked some very interesting items to include in the time capsule. It marks another milestone in the refurbishment of Westcroft leisure centre, which is already taking shape.”