With the facilities now fully transitioned over to Rye Leisure Centre, popular activities such as Water Creatures swimming lessons, Splitz Academy, the gym, badminton, football, pickleball and group exercise classes have continued without interruption.
The Rye Recreation and Wellbeing Community Interest Organisation (CIO) took over the running of the sports centre on April 1, with Rye Town Council taking on a 20-year lease.
There are lots of additions in the pipeline, with Zumba and boxercise trial classes running this week. The team is also busy planning for when the centre takes back studio 2 full-time, enabling further expansion of the programme.
There will also be work commencing soon to upgrade the façade of the building (including the accessible ramp), and to repair some historic issues around the building plant. A new pool cover will be installed which complements the installation of solar panels in late 2024.
Daniel Lynn, centre director, says the installation of solar power was the first step towards making Rye Leisure Centre sustainable. “On some days the centre is already running without drawing any electricity from the grid. The new pool cover is the next step on this journey and we are committed to further reducing the centre’s energy consumption and carbon footprint in any way we can.”
Further details of the work will be released shortly.
Membership details
Have you taken out your membership yet? Pop in to see the team if you haven’t! The centre offers memberships for everyone from £25 per month, or 12 months for the price of 10 if paid in full for the year.
If you were already a member on April 1, then you will have automatically transferred over to Rye Leisure Centre so you don’t need to do anything. Your direct debit also automatically transferred over, and is being collected by direct debit collection company, DFC on the centre’s behalf.
Image Credits: Rye Leisure Centre .
As far as I recall, the previous management of the centre offered an annual membership fee of £25 and members could then turn up and pay for a one-off swim or another activity. Is this option still available? I would like to know more information about how the pricing framework charged by the new Leisure Centre CIO differs from the old prices. What is the percentage increase? In a cost-of-living crisis, the centre is going to have extreme difficulty getting people to shell out £435 a year for membership, or £360 a year just for use of the pool. Provision is needed for those people who might wish to use the pool on a casual basis, only a few times a year. Also, surely visitors to Rye cannot be expected to pay an annual membership fee. I assume that an option exists for people just wishing to use the pool on a one-off or casual basis? Grateful if someone could clarify this, thanks.
I couldnt beleive the prices quoted when i popped in for a swim (having not been for over a year).
Not living in the area anymore it was not convenient to fork out for membership so paid £7 for a one off swim as they could no longer accept my freedom leisure membership
Hello both Gillian and Dave – To answer Dave’s question regarding what percentage increase we have implemented, the answer is zero! All members who joined at Rye transferred over to from April 1st (unless they chose not to), but it is right that we have not continued the Freedom Leisure ‘Leisure Pass Membership’. However, a swim session using that membership was still £6.50 for an adult. Whilst we have added a small increase for some pay as you go prices, we have held all membership at the same prices as Freedom Leisure offered since January 2024. We have also added family memberships, more swim-only options, and more options for 14-18 year olds. In addition, we offer weekly, one month or 3 month options for those who can’t commit for longer period. Lastly, all memberships can be paid monthly via Direct Debit or if one is able to pay in full for the year we offer 12 months for the price of 10.
If you would like more information, I am happy to meet with you personally and show you around or run through the options with you. Simply call the centre on 01797-224747 and we can arrange a convenient time. Kind regards, Daniel Lynn, Centre Director, Rye Leisure Centre