A CHARITY-RUN leisure centre celebrated its 10th anniversary by hosting an open-day of free activities for the community.

Yesterday the Osprey Leisure Centre on Portland marked the occasion with with a selection of sports for residents to try their hands as well as food stalls and fireworks.

Visitors of all ages flocked to the centre to try out activities as varied as snorkelling, archery, water aerobics, badminton and short mat bowls.

Operations manager Aarron Riley said: "We have been busy since we opened our doors today. We have grown so much over the last ten years, when we started we were just a swimming club now we run all sorts of clubs.

"We run disability classes for those in a wheelchair, or with limited mobility, we also run GP referral schemes for people recovering from things like strokes. Last year our footfall was 95,000 compared to just 35,000 ten years back."

The site was originally built by the Royal Navy but was taken over by the South Dorset Community Sports Trust ltd (SDCST) in 2007.

The trust opened the centre to the public to help address the lack of affordable sports and recreation facilities in Weymouth and Portland.

Chairman of the SDCST Paul Mason said: "We've come a long way, in the first couple of years it was really just a case of if the cheque clears then we can pay the staff.

"I think we have a special thing here, it is about the staff, what they do and the support from local people and organisations. We have no continuous outside funding at all, so we rely a lot on the community.

"We are constantly making grant applications and applying for funding to keep this place running. In the last few years we have started being more energy efficient by using solar panels and low energy lighting, it all helps cut costs."

Today the complex is used as a training ground for numerous local football and badminton clubs and is home to the West Dorset Indoor Cricket Club and the Tornadoes of South Dorset swimming club.

Paul said: "When we opened we didn’t want people to think it was just for Portland, we wanted other communities to come and use the site. I’d say 50 per cent of visitors are from Portland and the rest are from elsewhere in Dorset."

Throughout the day a steady flow of visitors took part in sporting activities before tucking into hogroast and settling in to enjoy the live band and evening firework display.

Mary White, who has volunteered at the centre’s café for the last four years, said: "I just think it is fantastic, it's a real community centre, we get to know people and people come in from Weymouth which is good."