Residents of Brandon and beyond will soon be able to enjoy arts events on their doorstep, thanks to Anglia Community Leisure and Forest Heath District Council putting on a brand new arts programme at Brandon Leisure Centre.

The new Doors Open arts initiative is promoted by the West Suffolk Arts Centre and the first event will be a Christmas Concert with the Breckland Brass Band on Sunday 20 December. The performance starts at 2.30pm at the Leisure Centre and will be an afternoon of festive music, carols and Christmas fayre. Admission is free and mince pies and refreshments will be on sale before the performance and during the interval.

In January, the Leisure Centre will launch a new Saturday Night Cinema with monthly screenings of popular and not-so-recent films, presented in association with the Suffolk Digital Cinema Network.

By February, customers will have a chance to trip the light fantastic with new ballroom and Latin dancing lessons for fitness and fun, and in March, there will be a drama production by The Eastern Angles presenting ‘The Long Way Home’ by Charles Way, a traditional folk tale with storytelling, music and magic.

Tony Bass, chief executive of Anglia Community Leisure, says: “Together with Forest Heath District Council, we wanted to bring the Arts to Brandon and we believe the Leisure Centre is the perfect place to host events for the local community. We have linked up with the West Suffolk Arts Centre to put on a pilot programme and if this proves popular we hope to roll out more events later in the year.”

Anyone wanting to be added to the mailing list should pick up a leaflet and application form from the leisure centre.