I’m sure you’ll all know that Live Active Leisure are celebrating 50 years in the community this year – we have mentioned this once or twice I know!   They kicked off with the amazing Danny MacAskill and the Drop And Roll Tour last and this September there will be a civic reception to commemorate our place in the lives of the people of Perthshire and Kinross.  

To showcase this, they are building a celebratory exhibition that will launch at the civic reception and go on to be taken to Dewar's Centre to give others the opportunity to view and enjoy the memories built up over 50 years.

Now, there are many, many important milestones in the history of the company but as an integral part of all our lives the team at LAL know that without YOUR memories our timeline is a series of buildings going up, changing hands and enjoying a refurb!  All of which are huge news and together with our numerous awards and glowing achievements through clubs, athletes and team members paint a fabulous sporting picture success.

Therefore, they are calling on all of you to join in with your own stories and memories of LAL from the past 50 years.  Going back to that party last October, Danny MacAskill summersaulting over a ball will remain one of my most enduring Bell’s Sport Centre memories!

I know from my few years writing for Live Active that there are many, many stories out there.  From the inspirational tales that come from the GP referral clients to the people who put themselves on the line and sign up for marathon training there is a treasure chest of memories just waiting to be unlocked.   Just asking around the LAL office, people could recount stories of local communities fundraising for their sports venues, whole lines of Perth Swim Club members cheering on our Olympic contenders and the wonderful tale of Pat Duffy who has been using Bell’s Sports Centre since the day that it opened its doors.

For me, I will always remember my Uncle George patiently teaching me to swim in the soldier pool of the old Dunkeld Road swimmies.  The thrill of achieving that first certificate, the joy at squealing down the flumes in the brand new, super shiny Perth Leisure Pool and, a few years later of taking my own son to the baby pool for the very first time. 

I can see teenage me with Judi and Kelly, hanging out in Bell’s Café (which was where the Studio is now) after a game of badminton, scoffing down chips and cans of coke to restore the thousands of teenage calories that we burned off just by cheering.  I smile as I recall Cain’s friends in the new Bell’s café after his 6^th Birthday Party which was a bouncy castle and crazy run around.  These are my personal memories of LAL and I know you will all have your own.  

So, do you, like Pat, remember Bell’s Sports Centre being built? Are you a Live Active Leisure Holiday Hero from back in the nineties? Were you first down the slide at Perth Leisure Pool in 1988? Did you train for a marathon in Breadalbane gym, fundraise for Strathearn, learn to lift weights in Pitlochry or play your best ever game of basketball at Loch Leven? Whatever it is, LAL want to know about it and if there are photographs, so much the better!

We are looking for the following:

• People who would like to do a short piece to camera chatting about their most prominent memory of the last 50 years of Live Active Leisure in Perth.
• Photographs of you, your children, your parents, your grandparents or clubs in any of the Live Active Leisure venues from the past 50 years.
• Short stories or anecdotes sent via email or social media – we can even call to get more info if you’d prefer.

Remember, this is 50 years of Live Active and your memories will help us tell the story of how the modern day company came to be.  So do please include the old venues that evolved into the new ones, the clubs from days gone by that may not exist any longer and the instructors, sports leaders and team members that may have moved on to pastures new.  

Venues:

1. Bell’s Sports Centre
2. Perth Leisure Pool – And Dunkeld Road Baths
3. Live Active Rodney
4. Live Active Letham Centre
5. Dewars Centre
6. North Inch Community Campus
7. Glenearn Community Campus
8. George Duncan Athletics
9. Blairgowrie Community Centre
10. Live Active Blairgowrie
11. Live Active Auchterarder
12. Strathearn Community Campus
13. Live Active Atholl – Pitlochry
14. Breadalbane Community Centre
15. Live Active Loch Leven
16. Loch Leven Community Campus
17. Kinloch Rannoch Outdoor Centre
18. Blackwater Outdoor Centre

Get involved:

Email your images, stories or request to join in via a video chat to me, Nicki.  I am delighted to be helping LAL curate this part of their exhibition and can’t wait to read all of your stories and memories.  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

If you’d like to post your photographs, please send to our office and remember to include a return address. We will scan images and return to you safe and sound.

The Red String Agency
8 Atholl Crescent
Perth
PH1 5NG