A time capsule has been buried at a £26m leisure centre construction project that is nearing its completion on Great Yarmouth's seafront.

The wooden box was placed in the ground at the Marina Centre by mayor of the borough Graham Plant as plans to open the centre early in August gather pace.

The time capsule contained press cuttings on work to build the centre and items such as a stick of rock, a 2022 resort guide, a market loyalty card, a lateral flow test and face mask to represent life in 2022 in the town.

Ahead of the ceremony, Mr Plant said: "It is a memory of a certain moment in time.

"The new Marina Centre will open very shortly and what we want to do is put a capsule down that says where we were at this moment in time, what was on our minds and what we were feeling.

"It is an absolutely spanking brand new building with state of the art facilities in there."

Mr Plant was keen to point out how the building is fully accessible for disabled people to use and enjoy.

Carl Smith, council leader, was at the ceremony and said: "I am really pleased we are getting very close to the opening.

"It is exciting, everything is on course to open in early August.

"it will be great to see residents come along and see this fantastic new facility for the health and wellbeing of the borough.

"It has been seven years in the process and we are now coming to the end of it."

Borough councillor Michael Jeal is on the Marina Centre working group and said it would also benefit holidaymakers to the town.

The new building will have a six-lane pool, learner pool with moveable floor and a splash pad activity centre full of fun fountains, sprays and jets, and a gym facing the seafront.

The centre will be operated on behalf of the borough by Freedom Leisure and the contractors for the work are Morgan Sindall.

It replaces the 1981 complex of the same name, a sprawling building which had become too large to maintain and a drain on the public purse.