NEWS IN BRIEF
VOLUNTEER GROUP TAKES OVER RUNNING OF SHROPSHIRE POOL A swimming pool saved from closure by a group of volunteers was officially reopened at the start of January
The Friends of Wem Pool charity has given a 20-year lease to run the pool using funds from the town council. For the last two years, volunteers have been working to refurbish the pool and gym, which will now be run as a community facility.
The group stepped in back in 2012 when a leisure operator said it no longer wanted to run the pool.
SAVED COMMUNITY POOL A GREAT EXAMPLE OF PEOPLE POWER
Oaklands Community Pool in Southampton has reopened after being saved from the brink of closure and the pool being hailed as a great example of people power in action.
Following a multimillion- pound refurbishment, the landmark moment in January was the culmination of a two-year battle to save the swimming baths in Cromarty Road, Lordshill, previously threatened with closure as part of budget cuts at the Labour- run city council.
Now a ward councillor who backed the campaign to hand it to the community says that it should serve as a blueprint encouraging ordinary people to seize control of running at- risk public services.
City councillor Sally Spicer who represents Coxford ward backed the campaign throughout and said: “It is brilliant to hand the keys over to the community.
The backlash against plans to close the pool contributed to two Labour councillors resigning from the party. But council chiefs performed a U-turn and instead approved a £1.7m project to refurbish it and reopen it under the leadership of the Oaklands Community Pool Group.
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
Pool Companies Keen To Hear More About MagnaPool™
At the end of November, Home Counties Pools & Hot Tubs in Horsham, West Sussex was the venue for a seminar held by Daniel Phillips of Lighthouse Pools, suppliers of an ever widening range of Zodiac brand products to the UK pool trade. Home Counties’ Managing Director Craig Trusson and his team were joined by staff from XL Pools, Elm Leisure, Howards Hydrocare, Spruce Pools, PoolWorx and Cresta Leisure, each keen to hear more details about Zodiac’s MagnaPool™ – a unique pool water treatment system that has recently been launched in the UK.
The product is an exclusive magnesium-based water
treatment system for swimming pools that combines the natural clarifying properties of MagnaPool’s own unique mineral blend with an exceptionally fine filtration system using Crystal Clear glass media. MagnaPool™ is only available to approved
MagnaPool™ retailers via Lighthouse Pools. If you are interested in becoming a dealer, please get in touch with Lighthouse Pools to discuss this further. Daniel also took the opportunity to discuss other new Zodiac products which have been added to the Lighthouse portfolio and which will be available for the new season, including the ZS500 heat pump which features three operating modes, a vertical blower unit and operates a ventilation system that allows it to operate very quietly. Following the seminar, an informal lunch provided the perfect opportunity for all to discuss the products on view in the morning and catch up on other industry news and events.
Lighthouse Pools 01752 253525
www.lighthousepools.co.uk
Lonsdale Trust Steps Up Search For New Site
News that, as part of Derby City Council’s budget consultation process, Moorways swimming pool is proposed to close from April 2015 has prompted a charitable trust to step up its plans to build a new pool. Lonsdale Swimming & Sports
Trust Ltd has run the 45-year- old Lonsdale Pool in Mickleover since 2007 following the site and surrounding land being sold by the University of Derby for housing.
Since then, the pool has been the base for a number of local schools and clubs, as a venue for swimming lessons for about
600 children a week and for members of the public but the ageing structure is becoming too expensive to run and needs replacing. The pool’s extensive running costs are currently supported with £100,000 a year by the developers building Varsity Grange on the former university site under a Section 106 agreement.
This agreement will finish in 2025 at which point, the £1m received by then will have been completely used up keeping the current pool open rather than being an important lever
to attract grant funding and finance. The pool will therefore be closed with a community facility lost forever. Having been so far unsuccessful in finding a suitable site, the Trust’s volunteer directors say their plans are now even more urgent to bridge, what could be a three- year gap between the closure of Moorways and the completion of a proposal for a new 50m pool complex. They say that the replacement pool, which is part of the city-wide leisure strategy, would be vital to ‘keep Derby swimming’.
SPN February 2015 21
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