Emotions got the better of Paul Martin, head teacher of St Bede's Roman Catholic School, on the day its £2.2 million sports hall officially opened.

It wasn't that it was the culmination of an idea that was first mooted 20 years ago.

It was the slide show of football, rugby and athletics teams - many of them grainy black and white pictures from between the wars - that got to the school's leader.

Maybe it was also that Mr Martin was on one of the pictures as a pupil and on another as a teacher.

Or perhaps it was the combination of both the above plus the musical backdrop of the Chariots Of Fire theme and Queen's We Are The Champions.

In addressing the audience in the sports hall, Mr Martin said: "I watched the slides earlier in the afternoon and, I have got to admit that I cried."

The sports hall, which was officially opened by Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe MP, accompanied by former Bede's pupil, England soccer international Mike Hellawell, with the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Robin Owens, also watching, is a world away from the gym that it is replacing.

Mr Martin said: "I can remember hanging upside down from the wall bars in the gym in the 1960s when I was a pupil but now pupils can hang upside down from the climbing wall!"

Mr Sutcliffe reminded those present how sport could change people's lives in so many positive ways.

He said: "It can promote health and confidence. It can inspire people for the future. It is an Olympic year in Beijing and sport has a vital role to play in the next ten years or so.

"We have the Olympic Games in London in 2012, the Commonwealth Games in 2014, the Special Olympics, the World Badminton Championships and, hopefully the World Cup in 2018.

"The power of sport can change people's lives but it is not just about that. It is also about school sport and bringing back competition between schools and within schools."