Record breaking visitation at Wairoa Community Centre

The Wairoa Community Centre has experienced unprecedented growth in use with over 10% of the total population now members.

The Centre has attracted 200 more members in the last 12 months to reach a record membership of 940, which as Centre Manager Sara Bird says is “an awesome achievement” for a small community.

The Centre was redeveloped in 2016 including the meet the needs of increased visitor demand and included the introduction of a learn-to-swim pool and the expansion and relocation of the fitness centre.

Bird explains "our 940 members for the first six months of this financial year and casual users totalled over 90,500 visits over last year.”

The swimming pool also broke user records with over 34,000 visits and 4,992 learn to swim participants, triple the number of lessons in the previous year.

Bird added “the pool is incredibly popular and we have a highly regarded team of Learn to Swim instructors and we are seeing a steady progression in the swimming ability of our learner swimmers."

Sport Hawke’s Bay has managed the Wairoa District Council facility for almost 10 years and Chief Executive Mark Aspden says the focus has always been to provide a quality experience with quality programmes such as learn to swim, Green Prescription and Kiwi Seniors.

Aspden stated "we want best utilisation of the facility and the investment by the council in the upgrade along with us providing an increasing range of physical activity programmes and opportunities is working well. The way in which the Wairoa community is supporting this centre is simply outstanding.

“As well as operating the centre we also mirror in Wairoa the same programme delivery across health, sport development, whanau active and school sport that we offer in Hastings and Napier.”

Wairoa District Council Mayor Craig Little said the centre is a real success story for the district and has the ability to bring people together from all walks of life to improve their health and well being.

Mayor Little added “it’s proven we have a very active community and we’re all very proud of the community centre and how popular it has become.

“The partnership with Sport Hawke’s Bay works very well and we will continue to work together to develop the facility and the user experience to make sure the centre continues to be well utilised.”

Image: The indoor swimming pool at the Wairoa Community Centre 

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