Wairoa residents are good sports and get active

Wairoa Community Centre Sara Bird said the unprecedented growth was "an awesome achievement" for a small community.

More than 10 per cent of the Wairoa population has joined up to use the Wairoa Community Centre.

The centre has attracted 200 more members in the past 12 months to reach a record membership of 940.

Centre manager Sara Bird said the unprecedented growth was "an awesome achievement" for a small community.

The centre was redeveloped in 2016 to meet the needs of increased visitor demand and included the introduction of a learn to swim pool, and expansion and relocation of the fitness centre.

"Our 940 members for the first six months of this financial year and casual users totalled over 90,500 visits over last year."

The swimming pool also broke user records with more than 34,000 visits and 4992 learn to swim participants, triple the number of lessons in the previous year.

"The pool is incredibly popular and we have a highly regarded team of Learn to Swim instructors and we are seeing a steady progression in the swimming ability of our learner swimmers," Ms Bird said.

Sport Hawke's Bay has managed the Wairoa District Council facility for almost 10 years and chief executive Mark Aspden said the focus had always been to provide a quality experience with quality programmes such as Learn to Swim, Green Prescription and Kiwi Seniors.

"We want best utilisation of the facility and the investment by the council in the upgrade along with us providing an increasing range of physical activity programmes and opportunities is working well. The way in which the Wairoa community is supporting this centre is simply outstanding.

"As well as operating the centre we also mirror in Wairoa the same programme delivery across health, sport development, whanau active and school sport that we offer in Hastings and Napier," Mr Aspden said.

Wairoa District Council Mayor Craig Little said the centre was a real success story for the district and had the ability to bring people together from all walks of life to improve their health and wellbeing.

"It's proven we have a very active community and we're all very proud of the community centre and how popular it has become.

"The partnership with Sport Hawke's Bay works very well and we will continue to work together to develop the facility and the user experience to make sure the centre continues to be well utilised," Mr Little said.