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Tai Po Hui Sports Centre and Tai Po Public Library, which was officially opened today (December 18), will offer more comprehensive and diversified leisure, sports and cultural facilities to Tai Po District residents.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Ms Anissa Wong, said the Leisure and Cultural Services Department had been striving to provide multi-faceted leisure and cultural services and cater for the related needs of the communities.

"With the opening of Tai Po Hui Sports Centre and Tai Po Public Library, the residents can enjoy a wide variety of leisure facilities and library services in the district to enrich their daily lives," Ms Wong said.

Tai Po Public Library and Tai Po Hui Sports Centre are situated on the fifth to seventh floors of Tai Po Complex, 8 Heung Sze Wui Street.

Tai Po Hui Sports Centre is the fifth indoor sports venue in the district. It provides lots of indoor leisure and sports facilities for various age groups and people with different interests.

The facilities include an arena that can either be used as two basketball courts, two volleyball courts or eight badminton courts.

The sports centre also has two multi-purpose rooms, a fitness room, dance room and children's playroom.

The children's playroom, the first one in Tai Po District, is specially designed on the theme "Farmland" for children aged between four and nine to play in a comfortable and safe environment.

Tai Po Hui Sports Centre opens from 7am to 11pm daily; the children's playroom from 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 8pm daily.

The centre is closed for maintenance from 7am to 1pm on the first and third Mondays every month or the ensuing working day if the maintenance days fall on public holidays.

Tai Po Public Library is relocated from Plover Cove Garden to the existing location.

It measures 3,600 square metres and has acquired an initial stock of over 140,000 items of library materials.

Apart from facilities such as an adult library, children¡¦s library, quick reference section, newspapers and periodicals section, extension activities room and a students' study room, a multimedia library, computer and information centre and self-charging terminals are the new additions.

With a view to quenching readers' thirst for latest information and self-learning materials, the library has been equipped with 11 Online Public Access Catalogue terminals and 43 computer terminals to help them search library catalogues and Multimedia Information System, to browse the internet and to read CD-ROMs.

The book drop service is also available.

Readers can enjoy their reading at the coffee corner.

Tai Po Public Library opens from 9am to 8pm from Mondays to Wednesdays and on Fridays whereas the students' study room opens until 10pm. The library opens from 9am to 7pm on Saturdays and from 9am to 5pm on Sundays and public holidays. It closes on Thursdays.

Ends/Saturday, December 18, 2004

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