Sports Minister Visits St Austell Leisure Centre for Beat the Street Launch

A Government minister visited St Austell Leisure Centre to see first-hand how local projects are helping people become more active and connected to their communities.

Ministerial Visit to St Austell

Stephanie Peacock MP, Minister for Sport, Tourism, Civil Society and Youth, visited the centre as part of a local launch of Beat the Street. The game is designed to encourage people to explore where they live through walking, wheeling and cycling.

Stephanie Peacock was joined by representatives from Active Cornwall, Sport England and Dr William Bird, GP and CEO of Intelligent Health, the company behind the nationwide programme.

Tour Highlights Community Activity

The hour-long visit included a tour of the leisure centre, where a range of activities were taking place. These included a school swimming lesson, along with badminton and gym sessions.

Ben Wilkinson, GLL Partnership Manager, said: “Great interest was shown in everything we’re doing, especially our collaboration with Active Cornwall that allows us to develop walking sports and projects like Time to Move, Time to Swim, Live Long Better and Health Activity Days.”

Focus on Health and Wellbeing

Ben Wilkinson added: “We stressed the importance of our work with social prescribers, the growth and impact of our Healthwise scheme and our commitment to helping those aged 60 and over become more active.

“There was clearly a lot of support for our community-focused ethos and we’re grateful to have had the opportunity of playing our part in such an auspicious event.”

About the Centre

St Austell Leisure Centre is operated under the Better brand by GLL, a not-for-profit social enterprise that runs the facility on behalf of Cornwall Council.

More information about the centre can be found on the Better website.

📷Photo: Left Ben Wilkinson Partnership Manager, middle Sports Minister Stephanie Peacock and right St Austell General Manager Tristan Knight