User:BarretBonden/Sandbox

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Contents 1 Sport, recreation, and entertainment 2 Culture 2.1 The Lighthouse 2.2 Parks and gardens 3 Media

[edit] Sport, recreation, and entertainment

Poole Harbour is a popular location for watersports because of its sheltered and calm nature. The Sandbanks/Shore Road area is used for windsurfing and kitesurfing, with on-road (charged) parking adjacent to the harbour. Poole Harbour is also one of the largest centres for sailing in the UK with yacht clubs including Lilliput Sailing Club, Parkstone Yacht Club and Poole Yacht Club. Parkstone Yacht Club hosted the OK Dinghy World Championships in 2004, as well as being organisers of Youth Week and Poole Week, two of the largest dinghy regattas of their type in the country.^[1]

Poole is home to a motorcycle speedway team, the Poole Pirates. The Pirates were established and began racing at Poole Stadium in 1948 in the National League Division Three and rose to the top flight.^[2] The team races in the Elite League (the top tier of league racing) and are one of the most successful teams in Britain. They last won the Elite League championship in 2004. Poole Stadium is also home to a greyhound racing track, with race nights three times a week throughout the year.^[3]

Poole's oldest football team is Poole Town FC, a semi-professional team who play in the Wessex League Premier Division (the ninth tier of the English football league system). Established in 1880, the team has had erratic success at their level; once playing in the third round of the FA Cup, and making it through to the first round four times.^[4] They played at Poole Stadium until 1994 until they were forced out, and have since settled at Tatnam Farm, sharing the school playing field with Oakdale South Road Middle School.^[5] Poole Town have recently submitted plans for the creation of a new £1 million ground in Branksome which would enable them to meet strict Football Association criteria to progress up the pyramid ladder.^[5] Poole's other football teams are Hamworthy United, formed in 1970 and who also play in the Wessex Premier League and amateur team, Poole Borough F.C who play in the Dorset Premier League. Poole is one of the largest towns in England without a professional football team.^[6]

Poole's entertainment sites include Tower Park, one of England's largest entertainment and dining complexes. In 2008 Poole will have its own Community Radio Station The Bay 102.8.^[7] Poole also has restaurants, cafés and historic pubs, many of which are on The Quay.

[edit] Culture

[edit] The Lighthouse

Built in 1978, The Lighthouse is a regional arts centre, containing a cinema, concert hall, studio, theatre, image lab and media suite, a gallery for photography and digital art, a restaurant and function rooms. According to the Arts council of England it is the largest arts centre in the United Kingdom outside London.^[8] The venue underwent an £8.5 million pound refurbishment in 2002, paid for by the Arts Council England, the Borough of Poole and through private donations.^[9] The concert hall has been home to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra since their former base, the Bournemouth Winter Gardens, closed. The rock band Oasis played a gig at the Lighthouse in 2004 as a warm up for their headlining appearance at the Glastonbury Festival.^[10]

[edit] Parks and gardens

Poole has several public parks, the main one being Poole Park which is adjacent to Poole Harbour and opened in 1890. The park is one of only two Victorian parks in the Borough of Poole and was designated a Conservation Area in 1995.^[11] The park comprises 109.5 acres of which 60 acres include the park's large artificial lake and ponds. Facilities include two children's play areas, tennis courts, a bowling green, crazy golf, a bowling green and a land train. A cricket pitch and pavillion is home to Poole Town Cricket Club. There is also a monument to Poole citizens lost during the First and Second World Wars. In 2006 the park was redeveloped at a cost of £2 million. The redevelopment included a new Italian restaurant, indoor ice rink and the cleaning and dredging of the lake^[12] so that it could accomodate new activities such as sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and rowing. Poole Park hosts several road races such as the Race for Life and Poole Festival of Running which included 10k and 5k runs and attracted over 1,200 entrants in 2008.^[13] The 'Round the Lakes' running event takes place every year on Boxing Day organised by Poole Athletic Club. Poole Park is also host to many other events such as Poole Park Fest (a free two day music event) and 'The Skeleton Fun Run' and 'Trolly Dash'.^[14]

[edit] Media

Poole has one main local newspaper, the Daily Echo which is owned by Newsquest. Published since 1900, the newspaper features news from Poole, Bournemouth and the immediate surrounding areas. Issues appear Monday through Saturday with a daily circulation of 32,441 as of January, 2008. http://www.nsdatabase.co.uk/newspaperdetail.cfm?paperid=111

For local television, Poole is served by the BBC South studios based in Southampton, and by Meridian Broadcasting (formerly Television South) with studios similarly in Southampton.

Radio stations broadcasting to the town include Wave 105 and the more locally-focused 2CR FM and Fire 107.6, as well as BBC Radio Solent which despite its name, provides local radio coverage to Dorset. A [[Community Radio station for Poole, The Bay 102.8, is expected to start broadcasting in 2008.^[15]