‘Claycastle Leisure Company’, the Management Company behind Youghal’s Aura Leisure Centre took top honours as the ‘Best Recreational Facility’ at this year’s Zurich LAMA Awards (Local Authority Members Association Awards), held in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin on Saturday January 30th. Now in their 4th year, these awards recognise the very best of Ireland’s talent in local projects of Construction, Engineering and Infrastructure. Photo: John Hennessy

Councillor Barbara Murray who nominated the Centre was thrilled with the award saying: “This is a major achievement for Youghal to secure such a prestigious award, in such a competitive category.  This wonderful facility has now been given national recognition and Youghal Town Council should be given due credit for its part in the development of such a facility.”  A key factor in securing the award was the installation of a ‘Biomass Fuelled Heating System’ into the Leisure Centre. This heating system uses Wood Chip which will be locally sourced and is Environmentally Friendly.

Set up on the 12th August 2003 by Youghal Town Council, the Company set out to oversee the development of a Swimming Pool and Leisure Complex for the Town.  The aim of the project was to provide a state of the art facility that would serve the local community and provide a quality tourism product for visitors.  The Leisure Centre boasts three pools and a fun slide plus state of the art leisure and gym facilities.  Funding for the project was initially sourced from Youghal Town Council, Cork County Council and the Department of Arts Sports and Tourism.

In September 2006 Claycastle Leisure Company Ltd signed a management contract with Aura Sport and Leisure Management Ltd, to operate the facility, with Tracy Kenneally, Operations Manager for the Youghal Centre at the helm.  The facility has now been operational for 3 years and is major asset to the town, and instead of people exiting the town for such facilities, it is now attracting inward visitors.