FARNWORTH Leisure Centre is making big waves — with a huge rise in the number of people turning out to enjoy the revamped facilities.

New figures show that the leisure centre in Brackley Street has experienced a 31 per cent increase in swimming participation in the 12 months following its official relaunch after a £750,000 makeover.

The data, submitted by Sport England, also showed an increase in overall numbers using the leisure centre, with a rise of 59 per cent.

The centre, part of the Bolton Community Leisure Trust facilities, benefited from a large scale refurbishment in November 2013, following significant investment to dramatically improve the existing facilities.

The transformation, jointly funded by Sport England, Bolton Council and Bolton Community Leisure Trust (BCLT) completely remodelled the changing facilities to provide a modern changing village environment, and created of a new contemporary fitness space.

Dave Singleton, chairman of BCLT said: “We are thrilled to see Farnworth Leisure Centre bucking the national trend which has seen a decline in weekly swimming participation.

“We credit this to not only the refurbishment and the team based at the centre but our pool programme which is regularly reviewed to meet the needs of the local community.

He added: “Our parent and baby sessions are increasingly popular and we are confident this is reflected in the latest figures.

"We are now looking forward to launching our Continuous Assessment Learn to Swim programme which will allow a greater degree of flexibility to our swimming lesson provision.”

The Trust manages a number of facilities across the borough, including Bolton One, Leverhulme Park, Sharples Leisure Centre, Westhoughton Leisure Centre, Harper Green Leisure Centre and Horwich Leisure Centre on behalf of Bolton Council.

The next project to improve leisure facilities in the borough will see Horwich Leisure Centre — also managed by the trust — knocked down and replaced with a £7 million state-of-the-art centre.