MORE THAN 550,000 people attended Fife Sports and Leisure Trust venues in the first quarter of this year.

The trust saw an overall recovery rate of 82 per cent between April and June 2022 compared to the same period the previous year, which was an improvement of 47 per cent.

Across Fife, Pitreavie Athletics Centre, Levenmouth Swimming Pool and Sports Centre and Waterstone Crook Leisure Centre showed the strongest recovery rates.

A total of 268,071 of the 551,079 overall attendances were to wet-side facilities, 222,976 were to dry-side facilities and 60,041 attendances were at outdoor facilities.

There were 269,547 attendances for under-18s, 18–60-year-olds saw 233,496 attendances and there were 48,036 attendances from over-60s.

Emma Walker, chief executive of Fife Sports and Leisure Trust, said: “The trust is very much in recovery phase, not just from the COVID pandemic but the ongoing challenges of funding to adequately deliver on our charitable commitment to making a difference to local communities.

“Like many sports trusts around the country, we experienced significant operational difficulties due to the pandemic by way of periods of lockdown, restricted access and implementation of COVID health and safety protocols.

“Our staff are working hard to mitigate against these challenges but we are very much working through our recovery and still have much to do to ensure the long-term sustainability of the trust. For example, to tackle the issues around staff shortages, particularly for lifeguards and swim teachers, we have been running recruitment campaigns and offering free training to attain relevant qualifications.

“We continue to work with our partner, Fife Council, and are passionate about making the case for community sports facilities for the benefit of local communities in order to offer affordable access to sports and leisure opportunities.”