Lilleshall Hall - Sports Centre

Sports Centre

Following the success of the summer schools, more and more governing bodies came to look upon Lilleshall as their own national and regional coaching or squad training centre. In twenty-one years as a National Recreation Centre, the governing bodies of Cricket, Rugby League and Rugby Union, Lawn Tennis, Badminton, Hockey, Lacrosse, Netball, the Professional Golfing Association and Association Football all were based at the centre:

• The 1966 England team trained for two weeks prior to their success in World Cup of 1966. Sir Alf Ramsey returned in 1967
• The 10-acre (40,000 m2) field purchased in 1949 was extended by a further 10 acres (40,000 m2) and developed as a playing field. HRH Prince Philip opened the Pavilion built with a grant from the South African charitable trust in November 1954
• Originally a gymnasium, movement and dance studio, King George VI Sports Hall was a 120-foot (37 m) square multi-purpose hall. Funded by a grant of £56,000 from the King George VI memorial foundation, it opened on 31 October 1955
• Funded by B.A.G.A, a pitted area for gymnastics was added in 1979
• In 1985 the King George Hall and the pitted area became the permanent home for British gymnastics
• In 1986 the Football Association took over the gymnasium for use as the International Sports Medicine Institute and Rehabilitation Centre
• The UK's first Human Performance Centre opened in 1988
• The Sutherland Hall, with the opening of the National Centre at Crystal Palace becoming the principal athletics facility, was converted in 1983 for cricket, archery and indoor bowls
• Ford Hall, originally a stable block and then converted by Henry Hall into a ballroom, is now used for table tennis and martial arts
• Wenlock Hall was opened in 1986, a multi-purpose sports facility, incorporating the William Morgan Development Centre for International Volleyball. The Hall was named after the town of Much Wenlock, where it is believed the idea of the modern day Olympic Games was conceived. The Wenlock Games are still held annually to this day
• During the 1950s and early 1960s, a new hall of residence was built. It was refurbished in the 1990s to provide ensuite accommodation
• Five squash courts (two glass backed)

The centre also possesses:

• 10-acre (40,000 m2) floodlit playing field
• Six-lane flat green Bowling Green
• 2 Floodlit water based Artificial Grass pitches, one is a hockey pitch with the Olympic surface used in Beijing and London 2012, the other a multi sports pitch.
• A state of the art outdoor archery range