Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre

Exciting news! Friends of Allonby has recently become the resident partner Canoe Club at the new multi-million pound Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre adjacent to Crosby Beach where Antony Gormley's quirky "Another Place" iron men sculptures gaze out to the Irish Sea.

The new watersports centre (CLAC) was originally commissioned by Sefton Council with a view to being operated by Greenbank, a social enterprise for the disabled, which already operates a dry sports centre / college in Liverpool. However, owing to contractual difficulties between Sefton Council and Greenbank, CLAC will now be operated by Sefton Council in conjunction with a number of partner Clubs which, in addition to Friends of Allonby, currently include Crosby Sailing Club, Crosby Windsurfing Club, Liverpool University Sailing & Windsurfing Club, Crosby Lakeside Crusaders Dragon Boat Club, Crosby Scouts & Guides Marina Club, and Sefton Schools Sailing Association.

Representatives of all these Clubs, together with Sefton Council's Leisure Services Sports Development Department, will be members of the CLAC Lake Users Forum which will discuss / agree all issues involving the water sports activities at Crosby. Our Club will be entitled to one representative on this Forum.

As many long term members will know, Friends of Allonby Canoe Club has been associated with Crosby Marina for circa 20 years as it was our main outdoor summer Club Night venue until about five years ago when problems with blue/green algae recurred every summer resulting in the 24 hectares lake having to be closed for weeks on end. We then consolidated all our outdoor activities at Liverpool Docks which, until that time, had mainly been used for our Club's Polo activities.

Our own 40' Container is still based at Crosby which houses a number of our larger boats for which there has been no storage space available at the Docks. The old derelict Marina building at Crosby has now been completely replaced by a fabulous new Centre building which offers all of the following facilities:

• Clubrooms / classrooms
• Wet changing rooms / showers / toilets
• Fitness suite / dry changing / showers / toilets
• Boat and equipment storage
• Adequate car parking
• Lake safety control centre / gallery
• Café / Restaurant / Bar
• Conference Centre / breakout rooms / teaching rooms
• Central reception area
• 14 twin-bedded rooms suitable for able bodied and disabled people
• Office space for management and sports development
• Laundry
• Sefton Coastal Rangers Base

A permanent solution to the previous water quality problems is being addressed by a series of measures including current frequent sluicing of the lake water during high tides, seeding the lake with a million mussels this month which will then colonise a number of floating booms around the perimeter and help filter the water, and the construction of a major pumping station already underway which will ensure a constant exchange of water throughout the year.

Access to the Centre for members of any of the partner Clubs, or members of the public, is via a bar-coded Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre card which costs a "once-off" £5 for adults and £2 for children. A smaller duplicate C.L.A.C. card is also provided for attachment to a key ring. Friends of Allonby members wishing to use the new Centre will need to complete a very simple Form which will shortly be available on our Club Website, then call in at Crosby where your personal details will be entered directly onto the C.L.A.C. System together with a photo of you taken by their webcam, and you will be relieved of your £5 or £2 fee for the card, as appropriate. Your membership card will be issued to you there and then.

When I recently tried out the procedure I obtained my CLAC card in around 5 minutes - granted there was no queue at the time. As part of the original agreement between Sefton Council and Greenbank, the Council organised and paid for the fabric of the Centre building and surrounds to be constructed whilst Greenbank were to pay for all the internal fittings e.g. all furniture, construction of the bar facility, fitness suite equipment, and all boats and associated equipment, buoyancy aids, wet suits etc. required to operate a viable watersports activity centre, together with container storage for their own equipment and for use by the resident Clubs.

As Greenbank is no longer involved, Sefton Council will be progressively investing circa £750,000 to fully equip the Centre commencing with getting the place open for the water activities to start up - hopefully from this coming Saturday, 3rd October. Work will then continue over the following weeks to fully furnish and equip the Centre for full operations. We have requested use of a 40' Container within the Council's recently established storage compound adjacent to the Centre, and hope to hear that we have been successful in the very near future. If so, we will scrap our existing 40' Container which would require major repairs costing circa £900 to enable it to be used on a regular basis, and would still cost our Club exactly the same amount in annual storage costs as the hire charge for one of the Council's Containers of equivalent size.

At this point in time none of the resident partner Clubs, including Friends of Allonby, know what Sefton Council will wish to charge them for their members to use the new Centre. Greenbank had intended to charge the Clubs £200 per person to use the Centre, plus a further £200+ per person if they wished to use the Fitness Suite. Needless to say most of the Clubs were unwilling and/or unable to pay such high fees. This ultimately became a major contributing factor towards Greenbank's withdrawal from the project as their business plan assumptions could not be achieved, thereby totally undermining their anticipated sources of funding as a charitable trust.

Over the coming weeks / months the Lake Users Forum will discuss and agree with Sefton Council an appropriate charging structure for the resident partner Clubs which will come into effect in March / April 2010. Until such time it is our understanding that Friends of Allonby members, who have obtained a CLAC Card, will be able to use the water and wet-side changing / showering / cafe facilities, together with the bar and restaurant areas as they are progressively opened. It is anticipated that all CLAC Users will have to pay additional session charges, or annual membership fees, to use the Fitness Suite when it opens in due course.

In the near future a CLAC Sports Development Steering Group will be established between Sefton Council (Leisure & Childrens Services Departments), Sefton Schools Sailing Association and the resident Clubs via the Lake Users Forum, together with co-opted representatives from National Governing Bodies (BCU / RYA / ARA / Sailability NW), Sport England, Sefton Special School Head Teachers and Sefton School Sports Partnerships. This Steering Group will focus on maximising the investment provided by the partners to establish a sustainable sports development framework, linked to NGBs' whole sports plans, meeting both local and regional needs so that the Centre is established as a national centre of excellence for water sports and physical activity.

Finally, I should add that our new outdoor venue at Crosby will be in addition to our current outdoor venue at Liverpool Docks. Exactly how our Club will operate at both venues will evolve over the coming months. Further information about our Club's involvement at Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre will be advised as developments occur

Gerry McCusker
01 October 2009 16:55:18