A CANOE instructor has been forced to cancel classes at short notice because they clash with Welsh international rugby fixtures at Colwyn Bay.
Simon Fuller, who runs the Colwyn Bay Canoe Club from September to March at Eirias Park’s indoor pool, claims he was told only last week that the centre would be suspending it’s regular facilities on the same nights as the Under 20s six nations fixtures, starting next Friday.
The closures mean the club will miss three of it’s upcoming meetings, and Mr Fuller said he was disappointed with the lack of notice provided by Leisure Centre staff.
“We use Eirias Park every Friday, and have done for about 15 years, and we’ve always had a good relationship over that history,” he said.
“We make a block booking well in advance, but with just a week’s notice we’ve been told that some of the bookings up until April were going to be changed.
“The whole issue is poor communication. I haven’t seen any posters up around the Leisure Centre saying it’s going to be closed whilst the rugby is on.
“It just seems unfair to close everything because a rugby match is on.”
John Hardy, of Conwy’s Active and Creative Lifestyles, said: “The Leisure Centre will not be open to the public because of the demand on facilities and services to support the running of the three WRU Under 20s matches.
“These matches each have an anticipated attendance of between 5,000 and 6,000 spectators,” he said.
“We apologise to Mr Fuller and regular users of the facilities for any inconvenience this may cause, but the decision was taken with the demand on resources as well as the enjoyment of users of the leisure centre in mind.
“We are in touch with Mr Fuller to explore alternative options for this occasion, and are working with groups with regular bookings to see how the impact of future major events on normal programmes can be minimised.”