A committee was formed and then began intense fund-raising activity to raise the capital necessary to attract Sports Council funding.

A site was granted by Ribble Valley Borough Council and work started on that parcel of land used in times past as the venue for an annual fun-fair. It had more recently served little other purpose than as a most pleasant walkway from Jubilee Bridge to Pendle Street East and the newly-developing houses now known as Pendleside Close.