Well we have had a successful winter off, with lots of progress being made, by a whole load of enthusiastic people. Last season we increased swims by 10% - a fantastic achievement considering the weather, and really is a credit to the swimmers for turning out, ploughing up and down, teaching their children/parents to swim, splashing around, and having fun, in all weathers. This season we want to increase the number of swims and swimmers, and so the volunteers around Wotton Swimming Pool Ltd have been working out the various groups that we need to offer specific sessions for. This year you will see the introduction of ladies water therapy swimming (to increase strength, mobility and flexibility in the water), and the reintroduction of an adult general swim session, as well as a repeat of "swimming for the very young" or baby swimming, as it has been known. These sessions are all on Friday mornings - adult general swim from 9 - 10am, baby swimming 10.15 - 11.15 and ladies water therapy from 11.30 - 12.30. You can read more about these sessions here. The winter has seen some new pipe work and plumbing taking place, as well as a huge project to reconcrete the pool surround. It is looking so much tidier, and we have managed to eliminate (most of) the steps and trip hazards around the site. There have also been numerous jobs to tidy up, maintain and clean the site: the fence has been repainted blue (the smurfs would be so proud), the pot plants have been beautifully repotted, and a woodlouse welfare and water awareness event briefly emptied the enclosure of woodlice (they soon find their way back in though). We are also welcoming new staff, and some returning faces: Dave and Paul have been reemployed as pool managers, who have been joined by Martyn and Karen for the first time this season. This tremendous team of managers have already been hugely busy in the run up to our opening date. We wish them all the best for the summer season, and hope they enjoy the pool as much as the public do. Not only that, we are currently running a National Pool Lifeguarding Qualification (NPLQ) course at Wotton Pool. This will help us to increase the pool of lifeguards that we have available, giving local people of a range of ages a highly valuable qualification that they will be able to use at Wotton Pool and other pools too. We look forward to being able to present them with their corporate orange lifeguarding uniforms! Miss Minnow.