Update: Following the government announcement today (9/7/20) allowing swimming pools to re-open. We plan to re-open. We will publish updates here as soon as we can.
We have been in a practical state of readiness to get the pool running as soon as we are allowed. Now we have been given the go-ahead by government we can do the final steps to opening.
The key job now is to get our lifeguards re-accredited (they are already qualified but have to pass a test before they are allowed to supervise) and our Gatekeepers re-trained. Lifeguards have to demonstrate rescues and are necessarily in contact with others to do this. We have therefore put this in abeyance until we knew for certain we are going to open. The way of working is going to be limited (see the details in the ABOUT US page on this website) so the Gatekeepers (who are volunteers) need to know these details and be kept up to date with them as they are changing all the time.
We will be doing this accreditation and training over the next few days and will then publish an opening date...
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The advice we get from the Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG) is that the chlorination levels we normally put into our pool (about 3ppm) is sufficient to render the virus inactive (or 'kill it' if it were a living thing). However we're still prevented from opening due to the requirement for social distancing. We will of course re-open as soon as it is safe to do so.
We're currently heating up this year's batch of water with the sun, and we're considering options for a take-away, bring your own paddling pool service.
Not being able to open yet is a great pity as we have done some amazing things over the winter to improve the facilities for the new and future seasons. We've tiled the pool– it now looks gorgeous–and we have refurbished the interior of the changing rooms, so they should be more comfortable and convenient to use.
