In 1982 The South Lakeland Leisure Centre, as it was originally named, opened to the public.

30 years and 7.5 million paying customers later, Lakes Leisure Kendal, as it is now known, has become firmly embedded in the in the leisure and cultural life of South Lakeland.

Built as a showpiece community facility with the slogan 'Something for Everyone', the new centre brought together under one roof a six lane 25m pool plus learner pool, a multi-purpose sports hall and events venue, gym, sauna, solarium, squash courts, meeting room, bar and café.

The sparkling new facility was to cater for the sometimes competing demands of schools, club users, casual users and concert goers. Almost every conceivable sport and exercise class has taken place there from football, volleyball, cricket, archery, trampolining, golf, squash, bowls to yoga, pilates and zumba. Over the years, the six lane 25 meter main pool and learner pool have welcomed an estimated 4.5 million swimmers including 1 million individual swimming lessons.

The multi-use Westmorland Hall has hosted 1.1 million school children and attracted nearly 800,000 participants for over a thousand theatre performances, concerts and events ranging from local favourites Lakeland Sinfonia and Westmorland Orchestra to the Halle Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic not to mention popular music acts of their era like Hot Chocolate, The Four Tops and X-Factor as well as comedians such as The Krankies, Ken Dodd, Peter Kay and Jimmy Carr. In addition there has been opera, drama, exhibitions, TV antiques shows and world famous festivals like the Mary Wakefield Festival.

With the nation's thoughts turning to the London 2012 Games later this year, it is fitting to consider the array of sporting talent including world champions and Olympic and Paralympic gold medallists which has come to Kendal over the years giving locals a chance to meet their favourite sports stars and even the opportunity for a lucky few aspiring youngsters to be treated to a master class.

Football legends Bryan Robson, Ray Wilkins and Joe Corrigan and snooker champions Alex Higgins, Jimmy White, Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor started this trend in the early days and have been followed in later years by gymnast Beth Tweddle, swimmer Sharron Davies, Cassie Patten, Mark Foster and Keri-Anne Payne, athlete Kriss Akabusi and cyclists Chris Boardman, Barney Storey and Sarah Storey.

Following a boost in darts popularity recently, in March 2012 Kendal welcomed Word Champion Adrian Lewis and PDC stars Simon Whitlock, James Wade and Paul Nicholson to entertain the packed Kendal crowd.

In 2003 Kendal Leisure Centre together with Ulverston Leisure Centre and Windermere Outdoor Adventure transferred from council control to an independent charitable trust, Lakes Leisure which now operates facilities which include indoor and outdoor tennis courts, all weather pitch, bowling green, pool and gym at Ulverston and a sail, windsurf, canoe and Kayak base at Millerground, Windermere.

Kendal is celebrating its 30th birthday with a series of events throughout the year to March 2013 starting with a special gym offer £30 for 30 years for the 30 days of April, followed by a triathlon and junior aquathon event on 22 April. Mega-Zumba on 16 September aims to attract a large crowd to the Westmorland Hall, Kendal for a taster in the Latin American dance exercise craze.

The culmination of the celebration is the Olympic themed open day on Sunday 16th September when there will be fun for all the family plus gym and swim for £1.00 all day!

During this very special birthday and Olympic year, Lakes Leisure is encouraging donations to the Cumbria Local Talented Athlete Scheme. This scheme channels funds into local talented athletes to help provide support for sports equipment, training and travel.