YEARS of work have paid dividends with the planned official opening of a new fitness centre in North Yorkshire, next Friday at 11.30am.

The centre has been built on to the side of the Galtres Community Centre in Easingwold.

The project has taken six years to complete at a cost of almost £300,000. Half of the cost came from the Sports Lottery, Hambleton District Council provided £60,000 and the rest was financed by the centre itself.

Construction took about eight months and the centre houses about thirty pieces of fitness equipment.