Chippenham's new climbing wall has a name after a competition was run to find one.

It will be called The Arc - and the winning entry was from Karen Jones, who took inspiration from the location, noting that Arc came from Avon River climbing.

The Arc is due to open in Spring 2022 and will be the fifth climbing centre run by The Climbing Academy and its 3rd based in South West England.

Helen Cassidy, TCA Marketing Manager, said “With almost 200 entries to the competition from local residents, schools and climbers from further afield, the judging process was extremely difficult. The standard of entries was very high with so many creative, thoughtful and clever ideas. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter. We are very excited to be able to offer great climbing opportunities in Chippenham and to get to know new climbers from the local area.”

The Arc is part of the wider Westmead Activity Centre, which includes a new skate park, café with indoor and exterior seating and associated landscaping. Chippenham Borough Lands Charity are funding the whole Westmead Activity Centre project with support of £100K towards the climbing centre from Sport England and £200K towards the skatepark from Wiltshire Council.

Phil Tansley, CEO Chippenham Borough Lands Charity, said: “It is with great pleasure that we can confirm that The Climbing Academy (TCA) will be running our new climbing centre, café and managing the skate park. TCA is an exceptional operator of climbing centres with 4 walls in Bristol and Glasgow, offering the very best bouldering and roped climbing facilities and courses for climbers of all abilities. We are delighted that it’s a Chippenham resident who has won the competition and look forward to the centre opening early next year.”