This film is part of Free

The Official Opening of Bournemouth Athletic Centre

Bournemouth's King's Park Athletic Centre is officially opened in 1960 with a celebratory athletics match organised by the Royal Navy

Amateur film 1960 4 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for Wessex Film and Sound Archive

Overview

This film features an athletics match held at Bournemouth Athletics Club's new athletic centre at Kings Park, which was officially opened on the 23rd of July 1960. We see numerous track and field events taking place in front of a large crowd of spectators including pole vault, shot putt, discus, javelin, triple jump and a variety of track events including the steeplechase.

The Kings Park Athletic Centre was opened by the noted New Zealand surgeon, Sir Arthur Porrit, who was himself a bronze medallist in the 1924 Olympic Games. The athletics match seen in the film was organised by the Royal Navy and pitted the AAA Combined Services team against the Universities Combined team.