FOR a quarter of a century Romsey Rapids had been a favourite with youngsters and adults alike as the place for some splashing good times.

The leisure centre, which was opened by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, in the summer of 1990 celebrated its milestone birthday last week when staff and guests celebrated the occasion with a splash at the popular attraction.

The Rapids, which includes the fast-flowing rapids and a flume slide alongside its swimming pools, attracted 300,000 visits a year in its early years but today welcomes more than 500,000 visitors through its doors each year.

When the £4.8million project was approved by Test Valley Borough Council in 1989 some had criticised the decision to opt for a leisure pool rather than a conventional pool to replace the swimming facilities next door to Romsey’s Crosfield Hall. Roy Perry, Hampshire County Council leader at the time, said: “It really has been a great facility for the Romsey area and lived up to all the positive expectations we had for it 25 years ago.

“We faced criticism when we proposed what was seen as a new fangled idea of combining a leisure pool with a fitness pool but it has worked.I am glad we had the courage to stick with our plans."

and get for Romsey the brilliant facility local people now so obviously enjoy.”