Mayor Annie Brewster joined a line-up with a former British rugby captain to officially open a new £2 million indoor sports centre at a St Albans school.

Cllr Brewster, Mayor of St Albans, and Michael Owen, former Wales and Lions rugby captain, jointly opened the new facility at Sandringham School on The Ridgeway which includes a super-sized main sports hall suitable for all indoor sports, a large air-conditioned multi-purpose dance/aerobics studio, a weights/fitness room together with large changing areas, offices and reception.

Parents, Sandridge parish councillors – the parish council donated £50,000 to the project – and school governors were shown around the facilities by Year 10 students before joining the entire school in the main sports hall for the official opening ceremony.

Headteacher Alan Gray talked about the journey the school had travelled to achieve the development of the campus and the importance of high-quality buildings such as the new facility to inspire young people.

He also said that he was delighted the vision for developing a sports centre had finally been realised and how important it was to persevere with projects and see them through to completion.

He hoped that “this wonderful legacy” would further raise standards of sporting achievement at the school and be used by many thousands of people across the community for many years to come.

The Mayor commented that she was delighted to help open another first-class sporting facility in the area and that it was vital schools should have such buildings to promote sport, health and fitness both to pupils and the wider community.

And Michael Owen, currently a trainee PE teacher at Sandringham, advised young people that they should always grasp opportunities when they arose and the new facility would enable them to participate in an even greater range of sports in the future.