From missing memorabilia and bomb scares to royal visits and impressing your dad on the diving boards, staff and customers are remembering 50 years of Medway Park as it celebrates its birthday today.

Whether you know it as Black Lion or Medway Park, the centre in Mill Road, Gillingham, has played a major part in the community over the last half-century.

The centre, in Mill Road, Gillingham is described as the biggest leisure centre in Kent playing host to national and international sporting events throughout the year and featuring 12 multi-sports halls for badminton, table tennis, basketball, five-a-side football and wheelchair sports.

It was first opened in 1973 by four-minute mile champion Sir Roger Bannister. David Linnell started working that same day and stayed working there until he was made redundant 40 years later.

“Lots of people left but I just stayed,” he said. “It was a nice place to work.”

He even met his wife Charmaine there after she paid a visit to the pool with friends.

“I gave her first aid,” he joked.

After spending 15 years as a lifeguard, David went on to work in senior management and passed the lifesaving baton to his son, Terry.

“He worked there straight from school,” the dad-of-two remembered.

Father and son worked together for a few years before David said Terry went on to get “a proper job”.

But it wasn’t just the father and son duo, other members of Terry’s family also joined him at the centre.

“My mum, Arlene, worked in the health suite for 20 years,” he said. “And my daughter, Nicole worked behind the bar.

“There was a job for everyone there.”

Of his many memories one that stands out was when David, of Lower Rainham Road, Gillingham had to become a security guard at the height of the IRA bombings.

“I think it was because we were so close to the military barracks (Brompton) we became a bit of a target,” he said.

“I had to look for bombs,” he remembered. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d found one.”

In the early 1970s David said there was a bomb scare which meant the pool needed to be evacuated.

“Everyone had to stand outside in their swimming costumes,” he said.

KentOnline reader Mark Risely remembered the incident too.

“There was an IRA bomb scare and we all had to go outside,” he said. “Although, I think it turned out to just be a crack in the pool.”

David, 68, remembered the leisure centre was used as a training ground for the Olympic athletes for 2012. There was also a piece of history behind the bar from the 1948 event.

He explained: “Cllr Ticker Fry was given the task of carrying the Olympic torch in 1948 and one was gifted to the centre.

“I was told to put it on the wall behind the bar.”

Former Rochester mayor Ticker Fry, who died in 2003, narrowly missed out on competing in the Olympics but was instead a torch bearer.

But there was a mystery surrounding what happened to it after Cllr Fry’s family rung to ask if they could take the torch back – and no one could find it.

Many of our readers have submitted their memories of times spent at the centre including Anita Ford who remembered learning to swim there on a Tuesday morning with her classmates from Arden Junior School, Gillingham before returning years later as a special support assistant with her own pupils from Twydall Primary School.

Martin Parrett had fond memories of time spent with his dad running the model railway exhibitions at the centre.

Billie-Jo Porter and her brother Owen, from Chatham, remembered taking part in sporting events at the centre over the years.

Owen, who has Bilateral Quadplegia Cerebral Palsy Grade 4, took part in his first disability sports open day in 2016, when he was 15, as part of the Boccia team and again in 2019.

While Billie-Jo completed many Medway Miles from the age of 13 until her most recent one when she was 22.

Owen said: ‘’It was a great day and experience to try new things and sports that allowed a range of disabilities to be included in.

“They made me feel welcome, where I could be myself and not worry about being in a wheelchair.

“They saw me as a person and not just someone in a wheelchair.”

Nikki White, who grew up in Lordswood, has fond memories of spending time in the pool with her dad.

She said: “Medway Park, or the Black Lion as it was, played a big part in my childhood.

"My dad was a strong swimmer, and was keen both me and my brother learned as soon as we could.

"We'd go almost every week, starting off in the warm toddler pool to learn the basics before we were allowed in the shallow end of the adult pool to practise our widths. How grown-up we felt when we were finally allowed up to the mysterious deep end, although I did spend quite a lot of those early days clutching the side of the pool for dear life.

"Dad always encouraged us to be braver, using all sorts of games to teach us to swim underwater and, of course, our favourite bit was when he threw us into the air backwards to splash into the water.

"He also taught us to dive, first from the side of the main pool and eventually from the springboards in the diving pool. I absolutely loved this and that feeling of executing a clean jump into the water was addictive, along with watching Dad smile and knowing after hours of practice, I'd nailed it at least once and he knew I'd been listening to his tips.

"The holy grail was to jump off the top board and I can remember watching in utter awe as my dad climbed up the numerous ladders to the top and plunged into the water.

"I managed it just twice, and both times feet first. The first time was sheer bravado, the second time my legs shook so much I'm pretty sure I just fell off. I never did it again.

"I also remember the changing rooms weren't the best, and it was before the days of lockers. You had to queue to get your basket to put your clothes in - they were huge coathangers with a wire basket underneath which never seemed big enough to hold everything.

"Then there was the game of 'dodge the footbath'. Back in those days you had to walk through some foul, medicinal-smelling water before you got into the main baths and we all tried to balance our way around the one-inch edge to avoid going in - no mean feat as the shallow footbath was quite wide and when you're only seven your legs don't quite stretch far enough.

"After swimming, Dad always treated us to a bag of chips and to this day I still can't get out of a swimming pool without getting a nostalgic memory of salt and vinegar.

"I've ditched the treat but to this day I still swim, not as often as I should, but love every moment and if I go away, it has to be near the sea or a pool where I can take a dip. It makes my heart sing."

The site is a world away from that leisure centre that first opened in the 70s.

In February 2009, work started on a new eight-lane athletics track as part of an £11.1m redevelopment and the name was changed from Black Lion Leisure Centre to Medway Park.

There were also new changing rooms, a permanent international standard judo mat for the Rainham Judo Club which moved in and renamed itself Medway Park Judo Club, a newly landscaped field to make way for the new track, replacement tiles above and underwater in the pool, as well as a new gymnastics centre and 12-court sports hall.

In 2011, the new look Medway Park was opened by Princess Anne as she started the five-day modern pentathlon European Championships with the shooting of an air pistol.

During the visit she spoke to pupils from St Nicholas Infants' school in London Road, Strood, and tried her hand at some shooting with some of Europe's then top athletes.

In 2012, Medway Park was included by LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the 2012 Games) in its official guide to pre-Olympic training camp guide for 13 different Olympic sports, making it the seventh biggest approved multi-sport training facility in the country.

It was also approved as a training camp for Paralympic teams as they prepared for the London Games and was listed for eight Paralympic sports in the official training camp guide including wheelchair rugby, judo and athletics.

In 2014 the centre played host to a lengendary Olympic champion Duncan Goodhew who launched the second Big Splash.

The gold medal-winning swimmer posed for photos and signed autographs with keen young swimmers before teaching them some water skills.

Speaking at the time, Duncan said: "Swimming is accepted as the very best form of exercise. It's incredible exercise, fun and brilliant for your health."

In 2022 the centre took over as the home of the Medway Mile which had previously started outside Rochester Castle since it was first held in 2007.

Thousands of runners of all ages who used to set off from outside Rochester castle and run through the town's cobbled streets before making their way to the Castle Gardens instead ran around the track.

Cllr Harinder Mahil, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for heritage, culture and leisure, said: “The fiftieth anniversary of Medway Park is a great chance to celebrate its legacy of sporting success.

“Medway Park is our centre of sporting excellence and has welcomed many well-known sporting stars through its doors.

"It is just one of our fantastic sports facilities across Medway which offers residents the chance to try different activities and work towards their fitness goals.

“We have a number of membership options available, including unlimited access to our sports centres – it’s time to make time for you.”

To celebrate its golden anniversary Medway Park is hosting a free celebration studio 54 themed workout on the day culminating in a big disco workout with a live DJ set between 7pm and 8pm followed by celebratory drink and caked and the screening of 'It 's Time', a film showcasing the centre’s staff and customers.