OUTDOOR POOL IS CLOSED FOR SUMMER
THE patience of Daventry people is wearing thin after the outdoor pool closed in this, the hottest week of the summer holidays.
Leisure Connection, which manages the pool on behalf of Daventry District Council, was forced to close it last Monday after a major equipment failure.
A part in the original machinery of the pool will have to be custom made and replaced, and the chemical and temperature levels of the pool re-adjusted, meaning it might not open before the end of the school holidays.
Mike Arnold, community and environmental health manager at Daventry District Council, says despite ongoing problems there are no plans to change the management company.
He said: "It's been said to me there's a hidden agenda here trying to get closure of the pool, but there isn't.
"No decisions have been made about its future.
"We are working together with Leisure Connection to make sure our facilities are run well. As far as we are concerned Leisure Connection will be managing it until the contract ends in two years."
Contract manager for the pool Jo Scruton said: "We are upset, as the last thing we want is to be closed."
But emotions run high over the pool, as it was built in the 60s with public donations after several children drowned in Daventry Reservoir, and Daventry families are not satisfied with the explanations.
Alison Baker from Braunston said: "I think it's disgraceful. The kids are on holiday and it's one of the main things Daventry does have."
Angela Corney of Lang Farm, Daventry, said: "There is already not a lot to do and now they take this away from us.
"My theory is they want to run it into the ground and develop the land but it's the people from Daventry who actually paid for it."
'GET it working for the children', is the message from the couple who spearheaded the campaign to open the outdoor pool after the death of their son.
Freddie and Marjorie Warne helped raise £42,000 for a pool after their 10-year-old son Terence drowned at Daventry Reservoir in 1960.
Children played there because they had nowhere else to go, but there were four more drownings before something was done.
Mrs Warne said: "It's a shame people's efforts have been wasted. The money was raised with good intentions for the future of the children of Daventry."
Mr Warne added: "We collected the money to build the pool and it should remain open. Otherwise children will be swimming in the reservoir and drowning again."
Mrs Warne had this message for pool managers: "Try and try to get it in working order again for the sake of Daventry and
particularly for the children."
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