Wednesday 2 July 2008
Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh will visit sportscotland’s National Centre at Inverclyde today (Thursday 3 July), to mark its 50th anniversary and visit the newly upgraded fitness training facilities at the centre. The Queen officially opened the Centre in 1958 following its purchase with funds raised in the memory of King George VI, The Queen's father.
The Queen will be able to see for herself how the Centre has evolved, becoming one of Scotland’s leading sports training venues and one which has been included in the training camp facilities guide for London 2012. In particular, the new fitness suite now meets the British Olympic Association strength and conditioning standards which means the centre will be able to host sports squads and teams working at the very highest level.
Her Majesty will have the opportunity to meet a wide representation of its users including a number of Commonwealth Games coaches and athletes: Graeme Randall and members of the Scottish judo team, Rita Yuan Gao and members of the Scottish Badminton team, Sandy Richardson and members of the Scottish Gymnastics development team, Roy McCubbin and Callum Macdonald from RYA Scotland’s high performance sailing team with some young sailors.
The Queen will also receive a briefing on progress of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games from Louise Martin CBE, Chair of sportscotland and Vice Chair of the organising company and meet other members of the Bid team.
Commenting Louise Martin said: “It is wonderful that the Queen is able to join us to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Inverclyde. The Centre has made a significant contribution to sporting success in Scotland over the last 50 years and with investment in new facilities like the ones on view today, it clearly has a key role to play going forwards.
“In particular we hope to see teams competing in London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 base themselves here at Inverclyde in the run up to the Games.”
The Queen will also be introduced to Bob Torrance (Sam Torrance's father), golf professional and coach who will be at the golf facility with some young golfers taking part in clubgolf activities.
At the conclusion of the visit Centre principal, John Kent will present the Royal party with a watercolour of Inverclyde House, which was painted by a local Largs artist, to commemorate her visit.