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BECCLES OPEN AIR SWIMMING POOL |
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Friends of Beccles
Open Air Swimming Pool Webpage
currently under reconstruction |
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A unique facility for all to enjoy... fun, healthy and social. The aim is to keep this facility open to the benefit of the community and our visitors ..... Father Antony Sutch |
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Beccles
outdoor pool was built in 1959 and in spite of harbingers of gloom saying it
is “on its last legs” etc. it is now a thriving local facility under
community ownership and management. It measures 33m x 16m x 4m deep. It is open from late May till early
September. It used to be administered
by Waveney District Council, who made no secret of the fact that they
intended to close it when their plans for a new indoor pool come to fruition. The main reason being they said it was too
costly to run. We formed a group
called “'Friends of Beccles Open Air Swimming Pool” with the aim of
preserving, improving and promoting the pool.
I ran a petition to the council, which got 680 signatures saying that
we were opposed to the pool being closed, and we had a big inaugural meeting
attended by about 50 letting people know what we were trying to do. We had a
meeting with Waveney District Council when they agreed to allow us to go in
and tidy up the pool and surroundings, and also to replace the awful building
site style fencing round the edge of the pool with something more 'user-friendly'. We planned to start once
we got the OK from the dreaded Health and Safety department! However, despite our best efforts, sadly in 2008 the Council closed the pool. But we were not to be beaten and after some heroic fund raising and a huge community effort, we managed to save our pool and re-open as Beccles Lido in 2010. Open-air
pools (or Lidos as they are often called) are now coming back into favour as
people realise the health benefits of outdoor swimming, and there is a
groundswell of support across the country to prevent further closures. In the
fifties there were 300 and now there are less than 100. The Guardian and Sunday Times for instance have
done several articles on this. We are proud to have saved our pool and hope you will help us to keep it open by becoming a Friend! Douglas Johnstone Friends of Beccles Open Air Pool |