12:06pm Thursday 30th November 2006
HUNDREDS of people have demonstrated their defiance of the decision to close leisure centres in Cricklade and Wootton Bassett.
All of them are furious about a decision taken behind closed doors on Thursday night by members of North Wiltshire District Council's executive committee.
It is expected centres in Cricklade, Wootton Bassett and Calne will be closed by Christmas, leaving 300 staff without jobs.
On Sunday Wootton Bassett residents, some of whom are members of the 28 groups that use the Lime Kiln centre, came out in force to show their concern.
The following day 400 people protested outside Cricklade Leisure Centre where staff and users are planning to buy back the centre, which was opened in 1975 with money raised by the community.
Tim Magness, the 42-year-old chairman of Otters Swimming Club in Wootton Bassett, is devastated for the club's 330 young and adult members.
The Squires Hill Close resident said: "If this goes ahead we will not have anywhere to go and it basically means the end of the club.
"We cannot go to the Swindon pools because they have their own swimming clubs. We are shell-shocked and cannot believe the speed at which this has happened."
Graphic designer Mike Brewster, 48, of High Street, is chairman of the White Horse Badminton Club, which has used the centre in Lime Kiln for 12 years.
He said: "We are going to fight this decision until the very, very, last.
"I find it crazy that we had previously been refused extra courts to play on yet now they turn round and say there was not enough demand for the services.
"It beggars belief and is an absolutely catastrophic mess."
Christopher Wannell, of Noremarsh Road, a Conservative councillor in Wootton Bassett, has received more than 70 e-mails from people who do not want the centre to shut.
He said: "We fought for many years to get a sports centre in this town and it is an absolute disgrace that we are threatened like this.
"It is a terrible mess up by the various groups who were supposed to be looking after the centres and if it goes it will wipe out the whole area. Where will our children go?
"It will destroy the heart of our town."
Mr Wannell is set to attend a meeting at the centre scheduled for tonight at 7.30pm.
The leaders of the various sports clubs, councillors, leisure centre leaders and local MP James Gray are gathering to work out a plan of action.
Mr Wannell said: "It is not a public meeting but representatives of all the clubs will be there and we are going to try and carve out some kind of future plan."
Cricklade Leisure Centre manager Ron Jones is helping to co-ordinate a users' buyout of the building in Stones Lane.
He said: "We want to take our leisure centre back for the community and run it ourselves.
"We will run it as a registered charity, bring the bar back, and get the local residents involved.
"I want to be positive for the staff and the customers who have had nothing but bad news. They will be devastated if it goes.
"As soon as I heard we were under threat I put together a rescue package and I believe we can pull out of this hole we are in with the support of the people."
Father-of-two Gary Walker, 47, who used to manage a football team based at the centre, said: "Our plan is to stop the closure and then take back ownership for the people.
"This centre is the spirit of the town and it would be wrong to kill it."
A website www.savecrickladeleaisurecentre.com hs been set up to co-ordinate the campaign.
On Monday, parents, children, school pupils and others gathered en masse to show support for the centre.
Mother-of-three and schoolteacher Linda Cantillon, 52, was among the protesters and said: "This place is very important because so many children use it.
"It was a huge part of the community when it was built by us and still is. My sons used it when they were growing up. We ran it as volunteers for many years and we will do so again if necessary."
Father-of-three Stuart Allen, a project manager of nearby Purton Road, said: "If this closes it will change Cricklade from a community into a lifeless dormitory.
"It is the only thing we have got which we share and virtually every family has a child that uses it."
Paula Smith, 20, of Deansfield, Cricklade, who works at the centre, said: "It is in everybody's interest to keep the centre open. It is local and friendly and everybody loves it."
Her colleague Chris Wyatt, 26, said: "There would be nothing in Cricklade if it wasn't for the leisure centre."
Sue Blundell, the headteacher of St Sampson's School in Cricklade, added her voice to the protest.
She said: "The decision was made so quickly and we did not get a chance to make any representations or express our views prior to that decision.
"We use the pool to teach the pupils how to swim and we will face problems now."
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