The new £800,000 leisure centre will be opened by two former pupils of Preston School, 19 year old Tom Minchington and 15 year old Daniel Liu who are both talented sportsmen as well as Paralympic and Olympic hopefuls for Rio 2016.

Tom who has Cerebral Palsy is an assistant coach with the Yeovil Olympiads and has won a range of medals for sprinting and the long jump at a number of National Junior Disability Championships. He hopes to represent Team GB at the Paralympics in Rio in the 400 metre sprint. Daniel who is a swimmer has won two gold medals at the UK School Games in the 200m butterfly and 4X100m medley relay and aims to compete in the European Junior Championships next year and hopefully be selected for the Olympic Games in 2016.

The new centre which will hopefully inspire a new generation of sporting talent has a newly refurbished sports hall, state of the art fitness gym and multi purpose dance studio.

The project is part of a joint partnership scheme between the school, 1610 leisure trust and South Somerset District Council and will provide a first class leisure and sports facility for the local community.

1610 who manage the facilities have extended the opening hours for the new leisure centre so that members of the public have greater access to the centre during the day, evening and at the weekend. There is also more dedicated car parking made available for public access to the facilities. The centre now offers more health and fitness classes and sports development courses, as well as encouraging local community groups and sports clubs to make use of the facilities.

As part of the official launch of the centre local people will be able to come along and try the new facilities for just £5 for a seven day trial period (2-12 October) without having to sign up to a membership straight away.