opening of qe2 activity centre

In 1977 local authorities throughout Great Britain were invited to celebrate twenty five years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. In some towns or boroughs this amounted to a park bench with a plaque or a street party; Eastleigh Borough in Hampshire wanted to do something more imaginative and lasting.

One proposal by a local man, Chris Gardiner, was for a riding school for people with disabilities.  This idea was fleshed out and became a broader multi-activity centre for people with physical or learning disabilities.  Chris knew the benefit of participation in outdoor activities from a lifetime of involvement, in the army, in youth work and running a sailing school.

Funds were raised, a site was chosen on Hampshire County Council land at Cricket Camp, Bursledon, building began and before the end of Her Majesty's Jubilee Year (which ran from April 1977 to March 31st 1978) the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Activities Centre was complete.

The opening ceremony was performed by HRH Princess Margaret on March 29th 1978.

left to right:

Cllr Joe Sanders, Mayor of Eastleigh; Cllr Godfrey Olson, Chair of Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Activities Centre; Lord Malmesbury, Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire; Chris Gardiner, Warden of Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Activities Centre; HRH Princess Margaret. 

early days

In the early days things were pretty basic - the Centre kitchen was a trestle table, water came in from a standpipe outside.  There was no storage and early pictures show the hall complete with saddles, sail bags, paddles, wardrobes and 2nd hand armchairs.  Heating was pretty basic too.  There were some frame tents for people to stay in, but otherwise no accommodation.  That came in 1981 when an extension was added, providing two dormitory rooms, a store room (yay!), a kitchen and improved toilets. In 1983 Chris Gardiner retired, and was awarded the MBE for his services.  Around this time Diana, Princess of Wales, heard about the Centre and asked to visit.  This happened on a fine crisp day in December 1983. 

The extension was was a giant leap forward but as the Centre got busier the dormitories were no longer sufficient or adaptable enough so new director of the Centre, David Budd, commissioned the building of 5 "A" frame cabins.  These opened in 1987 and allowed up to 40 people at a time to stay.

Activities developed over the years. We moved from kayaking to open canoeing; we replaced a not very accessible motorboat with a wheelchair accessible pontoon boat; we developed climbing walls - our first was a cast off from YMCA Fairthorne Manor, then we had one built by students from Southampton City College, paid for by the Round Table and delivered by the Army!  Since then we've added more and have a variety of challenging, but achievable, climbs.  The ropes course has been added to and subtracted from and moved and redesigned and rebuilt - there's always something new there.

Another cabin was put up in 1993, in conjunction with the Hedley Roberts Trust.  To put up the new cabin we had to take down a stable block and move it.  Before it could be moved a base had to be laid for it to sit on.  Not only that but really we needed to increase the number of stables.  So began one of those complicated partnerships which we seem to excel in here!  NACRO helped provide labour for resurfacing while the Probation Service provided labour to take down and move the old stables; students at Lord Mayor Treloar School at Alton raised funds to buy three new stalls; the supplier, Windsor Stables, threw in a tack box for free; our local Rotary Club provided some yard equipment.  When all the work was complete David Essex came along to perform the  grand opening. 

With that out of the way we were able to get on with building the cabin.  This was a traditional looking log cabin, made with real trees from Henley in Oxfordshire - this too had a grand opening, two rowers from Henley, Steve Redgrave and Mathew Pinsent.  Amongst the first visitors to stay in the cabin were some young people from Bosnia, at that time still a country divided by war.