OKEHAMPTON?S sports centre and museum were given the Royal seal of approval last Wednesday with the visit of the Duke of Kent. The Royal visitor praised the £4.2-million state of the art Parklands leisure centre before visiting the Museum of Dartmoor Life where he congratulated everyone involved in helping to ?create a wonderful museum?. After arriving at the centre in time to see a primary school swimming gala taking place, the duke was given an escorted tour of the building. He was shown the multi-purpose sports hall where netball was being played as part of a PE lesson for Okehampton College students. College head of PE John Farr said: ?This is a great facility for ourselves and the community and we are using it a huge amount. ?It is facilities like this, that we hope will inspire the kids to come out and take part in more sport.? Mr Farr said because the hall was multi-purpose it could be used for volleyball, basketball, badminton, circuit training and many other activities. The duke was shown the first floor aerobics studio and the fitness suite. In the aerobics studio, he met Glenda Howlett who was leading a yoga session. Mrs Howlett described the duke as ?very charming? and told him how it was ?inspiring? to be able to look out over Simmons Park when exercising. Doors to the centre opened last October and since then it has attracted more than 55,000 visits. After unveiling a ceremonial granite stone at the entrance to the sports centre, the duke told invited guests: ?This new centre didn?t come about by accident, it has taken a great deal of hard work by a lot of people. ?I do congratulate everyone involved. I hope you will have a great success and I am sure it is going to be very well used.? Richard Mortimore, West Devon?s Under 18s Mayoral Award winner, from Chagford, was also introduced to the duke. Richard said: ?He was very friendly, very easy to get on with, he asked me about school and my future plans.? Parklands was made possible with lottery funding to the tune of £3.2-million from Sports England ? the second largest ever to be awarded to the region. The borough council?s director of community and services David Inman said: ?Without that size of grant, a town like Okehampton would not have been able to get a facility like this, which will benefit generations to come.? From the leisure centre, the duke was whisked off to the Museum of Dartmoor Life, which reopened last autumn following an extensive £650,000 refurbishment programme. The royal guest was given a guided tour of the museum ? of particular interest was the display of agricultural machinery which the duke was taken through by Tom Endacott. Mr Endacott, a fourth generation farmer at Clannaborough Farm, Throwleigh, said the duke had shown a great interest in the exhibits of agricultural relics, particularly the 1924 Petter engine. The duke also watched a video of working life on Mr Endacott?s farm which was shot in the mid-1960s on super-8 cine film. Mr Endacott said: ?He was a very easy man to talk to, he seemed quite interested in the old engines?. The duke said he was impressed with the mix of old artefacts and new technology which the museum had employed. The duke also chatted to 15-year-old Okehampton College student Ryan Windsor, who had spent the last two weeks on work experience at the museum. Curator Maurie Webber said: ?Talking to people, they all thought that it went very well. The duke seemed very interested in the museum and clearly he had a lot of knowledge.? Maurie said she was pleased to see the museum being acknowledged in this way. Before leaving West Devon, the duke met up with a gathering of ex-servicemen and members of Chagford Royal British Legion.
