Hayle
Outdoor Swimming Pool
Our pool opens at 11 am Saturday2nd June 2012 after brilliant help from teams of local volunteers over the last few weekends. Everything from cleaning through grasscutting to carpentry has been completed just in time as the pumps and filters ran continuously cleaning and clearing the water.
There will be a short re-opening ceremony at 11.30 then FREE SWIMMING all day till 6pm, with refreshments available from Cafe Riviere at the pool at reasonable prices.
History......
Technically a LIDO as it is an outdoor swimming and
recreation place, Hayle’s pool was built by Hayle people FOR Hayle back in the
1970s.
Sited at the western end of King George V memorial walk
at its junction with the new North Quay road, it is built over an historic old
sluice channel, and an industrial outflow shute.
No big European Grants, no flashy Development Agency or
company, no nationally famous pool building company.
No Council or public body created it FOR Hayle; Hayle
people did it themselves including a local builder and labour, some of it
apparently voluntary.
Although we have not been able to find authoritative
early records, we have pieced together bits and pieces from local knowledge and
family stories and there is now a BIT of history.
From a photo of a train passing the then unfenced pool we
know the pool was there prior to 1983 when the rail tracks on the branch line
were lifted, local man Dick Horwell puts the date of building the pool at
around 1978, while local woman Tracey Dawson (nee Pellow) thought maybe 1974,
and that her father Conway Pellow helped with some work on it. Apparently the
paving slabs were rescued from another site in Hayle where they were being
replaced!
During its time, it has been run and funded by Hayle, and
at some stage came into the ownership and management of Hayle Town Council, and
for some time was loyally supported by the Friends of Hayle Pool, who also
strove to raise money for the pool to be heated. When they were wound up they were able to
pass a respectable £5,000 to Hayle Town Council who have it “ring fenced” for
heating and have been adding to the fund where and when possible. ‘
In the past couple of years, HTC (Hayle Town Council)
have looked at various types of cover for the pool and were interested in a
polycarbonate ‘greenhouse’ like cover that could be opened or closed depending
on the weather, and would help keep any warmth in the pool, which tends to warm
during the day and cool at night.
Gas, oil or electric heating for the pool has been a
worrying issue, especially with an open air pool and today’s awareness of
“sustainability” and “Green” issues, and solar power HAD been too expensive in
the past, nonetheless HTC were working on the ideas when the worldwide economic
situation and the UK recession started to really bite locally, and Cornwall
Council dropped a bombshell!
Probably the most expensive aspect of running the pool is
the wage, insurance and equipment bill for the essential lifeguards, and for
some time these were mostly covered by monetary and other assistance from
Penwith District Council, which passed to Cornwall Council when it became the
Unitary Authority
Up until 2010, Cornwall Council provided £22,000 towards
the running costs of the pool, which was reduced to £8,000 in 2011 and £5,000
this year.
Next year the input from Cornwall Council will be ZERO.
Hayle is not being singled out, all across Cornwall pools and leisure
facilities are being put under similar pressure with funding withdrawn or being
passed into the ownership of town and parish councils and other bodies.
SO it’s all back in Hayle’s hands again, IF we want to
keep the pool going we will have to fund it all ourselves!
The swimming pool costs approximately £20,000 per year to run and last year
made £6,591 in admissions, so there is clearly a gap.
With luck, by the time you read this in June, the pool
should be open, as we plan to open it for the Memorial Walk Jubilee event on
Sunday 3rd June 2012 and each weekend in June before full time opening
in July until the end of School summer holidays.
If you come, and find it a bit dated or quaint, or think
it should be smarter and slicker, remember that it is maintained solely by
local volunteers, often using their own equipment, and in their own time. Be
open minded please.
The Café franchise has been won by brother and sister,
Simon and Elizabeth Tytler who hope to work with HTC and volunteers to recreate
a Pool Support Group.
PLEASE USE THE POOL, all day swim, Adult £5, Child £3, £1
for spectators, leaving and returning included, free parking. (Season tickets
available) Every paying user helps the pool, and hopefully you can join the
Pool Supporters Group, ask at the Pool Cafe or call the town clerk on 01736
755005.
