NEWS
Organisation Launched To Protect, Preserve And Promote Britain’s Historic Pools
A new national organisation representing the interests of Britain’s historic swimming pools and lidos has been launched in London. Historic Pools of Britain will offer a shared voice for the hundreds of indoor and outdoor pools in the UK, mostly pre-dating 1939.
Established to help individuals, community groups and organisations involved in the protection, restoration and operation of heritage baths across the country, Historic Pools of Britain also sets out to celebrate these buildings; to put the spotlight on their contribution to the nation’s social and architectural history and to recognise the important role they continue to play in our communities today. Many of the country’s heritage baths are in a fragile state. For example, there are 116 listed baths buildings, of which only 52 are operational or in the process of being refurbished. The efforts to save and preserve them are often in the hands of a few dedicated individuals, whose voices struggle to be heard. Gill Wright, founder member and spokesperson for Historic Pools of Britain, led the campaign with the Friends of Victoria Baths, to save and campaign for one of the country’s finest examples of heritage baths buildings in Manchester, said: “This is an opportunity above all else to share our knowledge and experience through better connectivity between everyone involved in the rescue, restoration and running of historic swimming pools, from small community
Earlier this month, Bon Accord Baths in Aberdeen witnessed a unanimous decision reached by Aberdeen City Council to enter into a dialogue with the community group, Bon Accord Heritage over its plans to restore the swimming pool to its former glory and reopen them as a community-run enterprise
groups through to larger operating companies and local authorities.”
No formal public records, central database or archives currently exist to document the hundreds of historic swimming pool buildings in the UK and this, in time, will be an important role for the organisation. Initially the membership will benefit from networking,
campaigning and lobbying, the potential for joint funding applications and PR and marketing support at regional and national levels.
Historic Pools of Britain 0161 832 3588
www.historicpools.org.uk
STA Launches New Website To Meet User Needs
STA has launched a brand new website that will enable visitors to the site to find exactly what they are looking for quickly and efficiently. The new design follows extensive monitoring of how visitors use the website; evaluating which pages or services are used the most. Click on to
STA.co.uk and you’ll see that from the revamped homepage, visitors now have one-click access to the most popular and frequented pages of the website. It’s also less clunky, focusing more on what STA do and how people use the website, as opposed to following the organisation’s structure. There is also a massively improved search facility available.
The clean, modern-looking site also works exceptionally well on mobile and tablet devices. Brett Preston, STA’s Head of IT said: “With so much information to present, we’ve thought long and hard as a team about what our members and customers need when they log on to the site and how they search for courses, news, and resources. We believe the new design is now more functional and will make it far easier for people to navigate and find what they need on the website quickly. We are really pleased with the user-friendly, uncluttered design, too, because it uses the screen space to maximum effect.”
The site features distinct sections on STA qualifications, awards, and services, as well as a dedicated membership section.
10 October 2015 SPN
“Our new STA Search facility has also been completely re-built from the ground-up, making it easier than ever before to find upcoming courses, seminars, jobs and nearby pools. Prospective candidates can even enquire about upcoming courses with the organisers directly through the search facility!” added Brett.
STA 01922 645097
www.sta.co.uk
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
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