‘The shorter working week meant that 3/7's of the week would be spent in leisure, completely transforming ideas about sport, games and recreation' was a statement given by Dennis Howell , illustrating an ever developing modern Britain. The demand for cheap and affordable activities, especially by the wandering youths led to the leisure centre as we know it today. One of the early venture's shaping the modern leisure centre was known as the Shantasea Project, led by five young professional men (this included a stockbroker, architect, market research consultant, catering manager and a public relations officer) who were inspired to help the wandering youths.
A demographic showed that a lot of teenager's aged fourteen to eighteen were wandering aimlessly around the streets of Birmingham. The vast amount of these wanderers made up a staggering 3% of the city's population (3000 teenagers in total). The ideals behind this revolutionary take on the leisure centre suggested that the organisers should not think of themselves as instructing others, but merely presenting activities and observing a reaction .
This fundamental leap in the idealism of the leisure centre was both backed up, and embraced by the state and local authorities. To present date, Leicester has nine locally run leisure centres for its 279,923 in habitants , offering a vast range of activities, from swimming to roller skating. However, with the large range of activities, the majority of people who use Aylestone leisure centre (opened in 1988) are between the ages of 30 and 55 . This would seem strange in response to the Shantasea Project, which was aimed specifically at teenagers.
From a study taken in 2002, it was said that in general participation rates decreased with age, with 72% of 16 - 19 year olds participating in some kind of sport compared to 14% of 70 years old and over . Ironically, the majority of users at Aylestone leisure centre are between 30 and 55. Looking at Leicester and its leisure community, maybe it will be easier to distinguish reasons for this anomaly. Firstly, there are two universities, both with an affiliated gym, accommodating for a large percentage of 18 to 23 year olds. Secondly, there are another eight locally conducted leisure centres, as well as several privately run gyms, creating accommodation for sporting activities outside of Aylestone leisure centre. Thirdly, by looking at what activity classes Aylestone leisure centre is offering its members, (aged 50 and over classes, and adult only classes) it's obvious that this leisure centre will appear more attractive to a mature market. People are living well into their 70's and 80's, creating a shift in the concept of what is old , which is strongly portrayed by the mature users of Aylestone leisure centre.
The location of this leisure centre could also shape the type of participants that use the leisure centre. It is located very close to some large transport links, the M1 (approximately 7km away) and the A563 (approximately 2km) , which creates an opportunity for a lot of members to visit the leisure centre via their drive home from work. Peak hours at this gym were between 7am - 10am (mainly school children) and 6pm to 8pm (mainly adults aged 30 - 55) through the week , which would support my hypothesis. As well as being near main transport links, it is also situated on the edge of Leicester. People are more likely to go to a leisure centre which is closer to them, unless it does not pose too much of an inconvenience for someone to get there, i.e. by car. Looking at questionnaires filled in by members of the leisure centre, I started to understand why the predominant age bracket was 30 - 55. The majority of these users who had children, were children old enough to look after themselves (i.e. teenagers and older). I asked the questions, do you use the gym to as a form of healthy escapism? and do you use the gym to make friends? The majority of answers were yes to both of these answers, so maybe the reason to having a large percentage of members being 30 - 55 is simply because they are similar minded - in a way like a community club meeting point. A quote from Yoshi Iwasaki and Ingrid E. Schneider, two leisure theorists was, ‘To seek leisure opportunity to socialize with other people in response to the stress of doing solitary work' , which strongly backs up my assumption.
A number of local primary and secondary schools in Leicester are affiliated with Aylestone leisure centre, in an aim to engrain the importance of staying healthy and active (a response to childhood obesity). Facilities offered to school children are vast, with swimming lessons for children at key stage one, and many sporting games and use of the gym for children at key stages 3 and 4. ‘Local healthy schools programmes', which are managed by local education and health partnerships, aim to provide support to schools in order to help them become healthy and effective. All financial support comes from Government funding , in its aim to create a healthier society.
The state has also tried to use schools as a way of getting the whole community involved in sport and fitness. This can be seen from as early as the late 1960's and early 1970's, where leisure centres were integrated into schools. ‘The centre is not simply an extension of the school but has been designed to provide a wealth of facilities to cater for the needs of all members of the community' . Although society has moved on, it is clear that the state and sporting bodies still intervene and regulate in order to portray how leisure is a necessary endeavor, whether it is for fitness or for creativity.
Aylestone leisure centre does have specific aims for the year, decided between the local authority and the manager of Aylestone leisure centre. With a large percentage of the leisure centre's members being between the ages of 30 and 55, it is pretty obvious that they want to appeal to a younger audience, as to not make them feel unable to join the leisure centre. This is backed up by the advertisements and new classes added by the leisure centre, with boxfit especially standing out, which is a mixture of boxing and aerobics. There are also incentives for OAP's, who are able to use the gym facilities free of charge, again attempting to reach out to all age groups.
