The Olympiad Leisure Centre in Chippenham celebrated its 20th birthday in style on Saturday by holding an open day for people to try out a variety of activities.

The centre was packed with people trying their hand at new sports followed by an evening party for members.

Duty manager John Wills said everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

He said: “We had loads going on, in the pool we had a variety of events including rookie life guarding and synchronised swimming.We also had the water slides and inflatables out.

“In the main hall we had a bouncy castle and face painting.”

There was also a variety of taster sessions. Mr Wills said: “We want to get kids active and try and get them off their computers. It is important they keep fit.

“There were some taster sessions for people to come along and try something new for the first time.

“It also gave us a chance to advertise some activities that people don’t know much about. In the main hall the cheerleading and Tae Kwon Do sessions were very popular. It was a pretty busy day.”

The Olympiad, which employs around 200 full and part time staff, was built in 1989 on council land next to the former open-air swimming pool.

It boasted state of the art pool, gym, sports hall and squash courts.

Operations manager Kelly Donald said further development would be focus on improving the centre’s versatility.

She said: “We have plans to upgrade certain parts of the leisure centre and turn them into multi-use areas.

“At the moment certain sections are only suitable for one or two activities and we would like to increase our flexibility."