An eight-year-old school girl has designed the new climbing wall at a £7 million leisure centre.

Move Urmston has been being built for the last few months and is due to open later this month, but the new clip and climb wall was unveiled to a handful of school children before the official opening.

Year 4 pupil Catriona Ledger, from St Anne’s CE Primary School in Sale, won a competition to design the wall and she and her school friends were the first to set foot in the new Move Urmston leisure centre and try out the new wall for themselves.

There are 12 individual clip and climb routes on the wall which Catriona designed herself.

Trafford Council leader, Coun Andrew Western, unveiled her winning designs and presented Catriona with a framed copy of her winning design.

The competition was launched by the council and leisure trust Trafford leisure to engage local school children in the process of developing Move Urmston and get them excited about fitness.

A total of 114 pupils from ten Trafford schools took part in the competition and Catriona’s eye-catching Manchester bee design was selected by Coun Western as the best.

Coun Western said: “It was fantastic to meet Catriona and see her eye-catching bee design come to life. It looks absolutely amazing.

“Congratulations again to Catriona. We loved having the year four pupils from St Anne’s CE Primary School as our VIP special guests, and it was great to watch the children navigate up the climbing wall. An exciting and energetic morning was had by all.

“Health and wellbeing is a major priority for Trafford Council. The new centre

and its fantastic climbing wall will help thousands of families to follow a healthier lifestyle whilst providing them with lots of fun at the same time.”

Jo Cherrett, COO, Trafford Leisure says: “The wait is nearly over and the leisure

centre is soon to be opened. The climbing wall has been a real talking point in

Urmston as our neighbours have watched the Atrium go up.

“There has been a real buzz and a sense of anticipation, and we hope that this momentum leads to lots of people trying out new activities for the first time.

“The climbing wall is the first of its kind in Trafford and we can’t wait for the

doors to open at Move Urmston for our community to enjoy all the fantastic

facilities.

“Catriona’s wall design perfectly conjures up the hive of activities available at move Urmston; we can’t wait to get moving together.”

The £7.1m redevelopment of Urmston Leisure Centre started in Spring 2019 and is due to complete later in March 2020.

The new leisure centre will feautre a large fitness suite, three studio spaces, the clip and climb wall, a sensory room, a 25-meter L-shaped pool with moveable floor, and a five-court sports hall.