The Westway Sports Centre
An Article from the 2000-2001 EFA Annual ReportUnique site - Unique approach - Unique Facilities (and now with added Fives Courts). Courts under Construction Picture 1 Picture 2
History - in the beginning
Thirty years ago the North Kensington Amenity Trust was set up to develop a mile-long swathe of derelict wasteland created by the construction of the A40 Westway elevated road for the benefit of the local community. The majority of this land was literally beneath this icon of 1960's urban road design. This of course was an age where roads came first, cities came second and the community around the construction site a poor third.
As Michael Heseltine, then Parliamentary Secretary to the Transport Ministry, said at the opening of the Westway in 1970, "There are two sides to this business. One is the exciting road-building side, but there is also the human side. You cannot but have sympathy for these people". He was referring to local residents demonstrating against the noise and disruption caused by the Westway tearing through their community. The Trust's role has been to turn sympathy into action.
As a result, over the period since then, the community has, through North Kensington Amenity Trust, created one of the most successful urban regeneration schemes in Europe. The Westway Sports Centre is now the jewel in that crown. The indoor climbing centre rears through the middle of the Latimer Road / White City Westway roundabout, while the sports pitches and pavilions nestle beneath the coils of one of the busiest junctions in London. Not only are its facilities a fantastic resource to local people, but the new climbing centre, effectively roofed by the Westway itself, is a beautiful architectural addition to this great Western route.
Now for some sport
Well enough of the history and architecture, what about the sports facilities? Westway provides nine acres of sports facilities, all built around the principle of providing something special, something different and something otherwise unavailable in this area. The facilities are open to all, with no membership schemes and have been developed in response to local demand.
The Westway Sports Centre, has been supported by the Sports Council (now Sport England) for the last twenty years. Support has also come from the Lawn Tennis Association, the Football Association, the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, grant-making Trusts and individual donations to the youth sports programme from local benefactors. Now the Eton Fives Association join this extensive list with a unique contribution to youth sports development in West London. The current redevelopment, which will officially open on October 19th, is a £10million project, greatly expanding and improving facilities which originally opened between 1976 and 1995.
There are now:
Plus: youth sports academies and pay & play for all ages and pockets. The new development also includes a community gym, a new pavilion and changing facilities, a meeting room for clubs and a social and refreshment area.
Sports development - community access for sporting excellence
Each sport has a development manager assigned to it, development managers work with local schools and organisations and create a training programme and squad system to draw new players into the sport and then provide coaching and competitive support for them to progress. This means that Westway offers opportunities for all levels of ability - up to the highest standards. The Eton Fives Association is providing and funding a development worker for Fives at Westway and we are sure that this is just the sort of support needed to kick-start the game in this area of West London. The worker is Mark Marriott, a young player from St. Olave's Grammar School who will be working at Westway in his gap year, prior to attending University.
Westway is currently used weekly by over 2,000 individuals, including players from more than eighty local football teams and over 650 under-18s. We anticipate that after the re-opening this number will more than double. The Youth Sports Academy and a sports development programme off-site, with local schools, involve up to 1,000 children. Standard charges made to those who can afford them are used to subsidise coaching and sports development programmes for local young people and others who can't.
We encourage all our users to find out about each other, help each other out and share their skills. One of the most exciting new projects which we wish to develop is a sponsorship scheme to allow junior squad players from under-privileged backgrounds to be sponsored by some of our more affluent users - or anyone else who is interested in offering opportunities for sporting progress to talented young people coming through our academy system, who might otherwise never reach their potential as sports-people.
The best example of such players - but by no means the only one - is Kirya Jordan - the highest internationally ranked under-14 player in the country in 2000 and a proud product of Westway's Youth Sports Academy. The success of players such as Kirya and many others is also a major motivating factor behind the continuing support for Westway from the Lawn Tennis Association.
Come and play - find out more. Above all we want to invite all Fives players to come and try out our four new courts. Who knows someone reading this article may want to start a Westway team or do some coaching. For court bookings (from October 19th) call Westway Sports Centre on 020 8969 0992. Equally, anyone interested in the wider sports development work at Westway, or indeed the wider work of North Kensington Amenity Trust, can contact John O'Brien, Associate Director Sport and Recreation, on 020 8962 5720, or Chris Bailey.
The Westway Sports Centre
Constructed 14th September 2001
efa@etonfives.co.uk