Yeovil Recreation Centre showcases its fantastic facilities
Released On 1st Apr 2023
Yeovil Recreation Centre continues to bring together people from all over the town and beyond to enjoy its many facilities and activities year-round.
The Rec Café is proving to be a popular meeting point for residents, visitors, and dog walkers alike. You will find a great range of barista made drinks and refreshments on offer and there is seating available both inside and outside, with free Wi-Fi.
The new community space hosts several exercise classes throughout the week including yoga, Pilates, tai chi and martial arts, along with a series of evening classes run by the local YMCA. The community space is host to the memory café run by the Alzheimer’s Society every other Thursday and is available to book across weekends for birthday parties where the artificial grass pitch for football parties and flagship play space can also be enjoyed.
For more information about this space, what is on offer across the site, and to book yourself on to any of the classes available, please visit the brand-new Yeovil Recreation Centre website.
If you didn’t know about them before, we hope the new webpages highlight and showcase the site’s impressive facilities. It is home to the Bill Whistlecroft Athletics Arena, a nine-hole pitch and putt 3 par golf course, a nine-hole mini golf course, flagship play space, multi-use games area, adult and youth sized football pitches, tennis courts, artificial grass pitch and the Jon O’Donnell Pavilion – public toilets and changing rooms, all available for hire to local sports clubs, schools and colleges and the public.
An award-winning grounds team carries out year-round maintenance and improvements to all the sites facilities and they were proud to receive two awards at the annual Grounds Management Awards in late 2022: best environmental and sustainability impact award and best managed artificial surface of the year award.
Also in 2022, the athletics arena was pleased to receive Track Mark accreditation from England Athletics. The accreditation recognises that the facility and equipment meet UK Athletics standards for regional competitions. In 2021 the Joanna France club house at the site was refurbished and remains the active home of Yeovil Olympiads Athletics Club (YOAC). YOAC were recently visited by England Athletics to celebrate two of the clubs members receiving regional volunteering awards: England Athletics visits Yeovil Olympiads - Clubs & Facilities.
The Recreation Ground will be open throughout the Easter holidays, so pop along to enjoy golf, short tennis, or the café. Visit the sports kiosk in the café to participate in this year’s Easter trail - all the details will be on the website soon.
Ashley Smalley, Activities Officer at Yeovil Recreation centre said “It’s a busy site to oversee, I enjoy the challenge of balancing all our users, maintaining high quality facilities, and still looking forward to improving future provision. I am pleased to advise that the Lawn Tennis Association are providing funding for a refurbishment of the existing aged tennis courts, so from later this summer the courts will be in a much better state for matches”.
Cllr Mike Best Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing said, “Yeovil Recreation Centre is a fantastic multipurpose site. It provides a range of formal and informal activities for residents to enjoy, and the recent awards and grant funding will see it going from strength to strength in the future.”
Cllr Sarah Dyke, Portfolio Holder for Environment also commented, “Alongside the incredible facilities available at Yeovil Recreation Centre, a wealth of knowledge has been developed amongst the staff to ensure sustainable consideration is at the heart of all operational decisions. The team has made huge leaps to improve biodiversity across the site and minimise their carbon footprint and will continue to do so as we work towards our target of net-zero by 2030.”
To find out more about Yeovil Recreation Centre, its facilities, activities, and latest fixtures, visit its all-new website at www.yeovilrec.co.uk.
