Charter Sports Centre was built by Brent Council in 1982. They bought the site. It was an old factory. It burned down, oddly enough, and they built the Sport Center. We all said it was the wrong place and the wrong size. It’s quite a small sports centre. It was the 4th of Brent’s four sports centres. They set it up in the early 80s at the community facility, it was popular. I moved into the area in the early 90s and lived on the same road.

I joined the gym, I did sessions here. I did the fitness sessions. Then came the financial crash and the change of government in 2010. As part of the ‘austerity’ measures, the Council was required to make cuts to at least one of its sports centres, and Charteris was certainly in the frame because it was the smallest and least profitable. So, at the end of 2010, they decided to cut it. In 2011, about 20 of us gathered together as a campaign to save it. We had some good contacts in the sports world and a grant to do a feasibility study which made us serious contenders in the eyes of the Council. We talked with the Council for many months - we didn’t get anywhere, to be honest. It is a little bit of a lost cause because ultimately, they just want to put it up for auction and maximize their income.

So when it came to the final auction, we, the community, were comprehensively outbid by both developers and two educational establishments who wanted to use it for their children. Luckily for us, the final bid was won by South Bank International School, which knew of our campaign and knew us and was happy to include us in their bid. So when they won we were very pleased and they offered us the use of the centre evenings or weekends and school holidays - they were happy for the community to use it and it’s been a great partnership, really successful. We work very well together and that’s allowed Charteris Sports Center to continue offering sporting facilities for the local community, for the young, the old, and everything in between and we hope long may it continue.