BARRY Fry, Peterborough United’s director of football, will join Olympic double medallist Louis Smith at the grand opening of the new leisure and sporting facilities in Chatteris this Sunday.

Fry has agreed to open the new all-weather pitch and pavilion next to the Chatteris Leisure gym and dance studio at 1pm. Smith, who is now also a star of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, is due to open the leisure centre at 2.15pm.

The opening ceremonies will be the centrepiece of a family fun day taking place at the new centre from 11.30am-4pm.

Peterborough United have also donated a football and club shirt, both signed by the first team squad, and a pair of tickets for the home game against Crystal Palace on November 10.

Individuals who turn up on the day will have the chance to win them as prizes. Five hundred match programmes will also be handed out.

Staff from the club will be leading three football coaching sessions on the new pitch – one for 5-11-year-olds at noon, a second for 12-16-year-olds at 1.15pm and a third for 16-pluses at 2.30pm. The maximum number of participants for each session is 32 and it will be first come, first served.

The Chatteris Leisure and the all-weather pitch are joint projects between Fenland District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Chatteris Town Council and Cromwell Community College.

They worked in partnership with the Cambridgeshire Football Association to secure a �370,000 grant from the Football Foundation to help fund the new pitch, which is seen as giving a big boost to grassroots sport in the area.

Paul Thorogood, the Football Foundation’s chief executive, said: “Numerous organisations and individuals have worked extremely hard to ensure this project has come to fruition and they deserve great credit for their endeavours.

“This new facility will provide the community with more opportunities to take part in regular sport. Not only will people benefit from a state-of-the-art, quality pitch on which to play football and other sports; they will also benefit from the health and social benefits that accompany this.”

A big crowd is expected for Sunday’s fun day, which features various family-friendly activities, including a climbing wall, inflatable slide, bouncy castle and junior fairground rides. Doors open at 11.30am.