AFTER years of waiting Royston s £5 million leisure centre was eventually opened. Although the complex on a site behind The Meridian School took just 18 months to be contructed, the campaign to have a leisure centre stretched over almost 30 years. As Coun

AFTER years of waiting Royston's £5 million leisure centre was eventually opened.

Although the complex on a site behind The Meridian School took just 18 months to be contructed, the campaign to have a leisure centre stretched over almost 30 years.

As Councillor Ian Knighton said at the opening in September: "There is a long history of how we got here, and at times people may have believed the leisure centre was not going to materialise."

But materialise it did, and Councillor F John Smith, leader of North Hertfordshire District Council and a long-standing campaigner for the leisure centre, described the completion of the complex as "a great day for Royston".

He was one of those people who in the 1970s said it was "perfectly obvious" that Royston needed a leisure centre.

One serious setback, however, came when a bid for Lottery cash was rejected, and the whole project was again thrown into uncertainty.

It has to be said that there was a determination to see the scheme through and the appearance of Pellikaan Construction on the scene convinced the district council that a leisure centre could become a reality.

The opening of the complex was carried out by Royston's MP Oliver Heald, who recognised all those who "fought so hard" over the years for the leisure centre.