Silver City Blues Masters Meet Saturday 21st February 2015
Westhill Swimming Pool will be hosting the annual Silver City Blues Meet. We expect in excess of 400 adults to compete, predominantly from Aberdeenshire though some will be from further afield. Westhill Swimming Pool will therefore be shut to the public between the hours of 11:00am – 8:00pm on Saturday 21st February 2015.
Due to the Annual Minnow Swimming meet, Westhill swimming pool will be closed on Saturday 20th September 2014 from 7am – 7pm. This meet attracts around 350 competitors to the site from predominantly Aberdeenshire clubs and also various clubs in the north east of Scotland.
Well done to all involved who organised the Westhill Wheelers inaugural meeting tonight in the Community Centre! This group of enthusiastic young people have come a long way in their quest to provide the community with a wheeled sports facility. I have sat and watched their pained faces during lengthy meetings in the very early days! With the help of Anne Simpson of Garioch Partnership and Susan McGregor of Aberdeenshire Council, the group have moved up a gear, set up their constitution and worked together to form their committee to take the project to the next stages.
They list their objectives as including the promotion of wheeled sports within the local community, to support young people in participating positively in an act of sport and to promote fellowship and good sportsmanship among all ages by providing them with a skatepark in the area.
After excellent presentations to the meeting tonight, the following were voted to form the committee:
Grant Riddell – Chair,
Jason Gillespie – Vice Chair
Victoria Gillespie – Treasurer
Sam Morris – Secretary
The group received a phenomenal response from the floor in nominations for ordinary committee members and it was agreed that all those who volunteered would be accepted. Attendees were then invited to choose their favourite logo for the group, mark their suggested site on the Westhill map and add suggestions for the group to consider.
There is still a long way to go and a lot of hard work ahead, but I just know that this fantastic group of people will go far!
The Bowling Club who meet in Echt Hall on Tuesday evenings (7pm start) operate from September to March. The Club are seeking adult players who do not need to be experienced and welcome beginners who would like to try something new. Membership has been decreasing and the Club may need to consider ending if new members cannot be found.
The Club seeks interested male or female bowlers and wishes to convey that bowling is certainly not necessarily for retired persons and please don’t worry about ‘needing the gear’ to get started, this is not a requirement straight away.
George Glennie welcomes any enquiries by telephone 860597 or glennieg@rocketmail.com and by all means even if you want to come along on a Tuesday to see what it is all about, you will be made most welcome.
Westhill Swimming Pool will be closed on Wednesday 8th & Thursday 9th May to allow for maintenance work on the moveable floor and some other plant associated works.
Coaches and volunteers from across Scotland were honoured recently at the Annual Scottish FA Grassroots Awards at Hampden, supported by McDonald’s and the Sunday Mail. Scotland National Coach Craig Levein and Scotland legend Kenny Dalglish were in attendance to present the awards to the winners. The event celebrated the efforts of the tireless volunteers who give up their time to provide footballing opportunities in communities across the country. Hundreds of people involved in the grassroots game gathered to hear inspirational accounts of dedication and passion from volunteers involved in the grassroots game.
McDonald’s Head of Scottish Football, Kenny Dalglish, said: “Football in communities is built on the dedication of people we honoured tonight. “Without the hard work and dedication of all the grassroots volunteers, Scottish football simply wouldn’t exist.”
Westdyke FC won the best Community Football Club award. Graeme Burnett, Chair of Lawsondale Sports Centre Trust (pictured front row, third from left) picked up the award on behalf of the club. Well done to all involved!
Last Tuesday, I attended an open evening at the Holiday Inn organised by Aberdeenshire Council and the individual facility Chairs to explore the future of Westhill Leisure facilities.
No group or individual is immune from the financial climate we find ourselves in. Community solutions and participation is crucial to the survival of the leisure centres if they are to continue to provide the services residents want. I think it is a great start that the different groups have come together to look at the facilities collectively.
We heard about the successes as well as the challenges of these local facilities. Committee chairs, who are all volunteers, from Ashdale Hall, Denman Park Pavilion, Lawsondale Pavilion and pitches and Westdyke Leisure Centre gave individual presentations. The recurring theme was how cuts in funding coupled with increased running costs were making the excellent work of these groups harder to sustain.
A presentation was made by the Chair of the Garioch Sports Trust who manage the Garioch Sports Centre in Inverurie. The Trust is made up of volunteers but run very much like a business with consultants employed to get best value for goods and services. The Chair was on hand to answer questions from the floor which included advice on building and running costs of the centre and on volunteer/staff ratios.
A representative from Sportscotland told us about Community Hubs – a National approach. Each hub focuses on the needs of the particular local community, in which it is based, offering local clubs and sports groups easier access to sporting facilities, as well as providing community volunteers with an opportunity to lead the development of local sport and physical activity in the area. Ideas were discussed on how to make connections with other local groups, how to apply for funding and how to promote the range of activities available in our area.
The evening finished with a round-the-table discussion and brainstorming session. It was clear to me that we have a wealth of sporting and leisure experts in our community, all of whom have given their time over many years to benefit people of all ages. Westhill has a large population who use these facilities and a huge business community who could step up and work together to secure the future of the facilities in Westhill. Some people may visualise a sports “hub” as being one big building where everything happens under one roof; others may see a “hub” being the collective committees working with each other to oversee the diverse range of facilities we already have and make them work more efficiently.
I have no doubt that the expertise and enthusiasm already in place will take the facilities forward. Let’s hope that with the support of Aberdeenshire Council, more local people step forward to be part of that process as well to secure the future of sport and leisure in Westhill for all our residents.
The all-weather football pitch at Carnie was provided through planning gain when the first phase of housing was developed at Leddach Grange. The original plan was to have a couple of turf pitches and some sort of pavillion. The plans were then changed to have the main pitch surfaced with an all-weather material which did not leave enough funds for a pavillion. Four short years ago, I remember the pitch being flood-lit, good-sized goals in place with the older teenagers playing football quite happily at one end with the younger kids being able to join in or play on the other half. The youngsters took responsibility for switching on and off the lights and I think this system worked very well. It was a good community facility.
Since then, someone in their wisdom decided that the youngsters were not responsible enough to manage the lights and the developers switched them off and padlocked the control box. On a recent visit to the pitch, I noticed it is looking a bit tatty and the goals would look more at home in a nursery playground.
I know all the leisure facilities in Westhill and Elrick are being looked at to see if they can be better managed and used more efficiently. How would you like to see the AWP being managed? Who do you think should run it? Should it be a free-for-all or should a booking system be used? Would you like to see some sort of pavillion or changing rooms provided? Please comment below or send me an email with your thoughts.
