Church Stretton swimming pool campaigners rallying for support
Campaigners fighting to save Church Stretton swimming pool are calling for people to come forward and draft a "letter of support" to Shropshire Council.
The Stretton Pool Action group has drafted a letter to the authority to show the weight of local support behind keeping Church Stretton's leisure centre and keeping the pool in particular open to the public.
The letter will act as a petition to Shropshire Council, which has earmarked the centre for possible closure as all funding is set to be withdrawn from 2018.
The action follows the results of a town-wide survey by Church Stretton Town Council that found 53 per cent of people who responded would be willing to pay more in their council tax precept to keep the centre and pool open.
Shropshire Council has also just revealed it will not be cutting funding to Teme Lesiure, which runs the centre alongside others in south Shropshire, for the coming financial year.
Sandra Burgess of the Stretton Pool Action group said members would hold "signing" events for the letter on Thursday (SEP 22) and Saturday (SEP 24), in the Square, from 10am to noon.
She said: "The pool is extremely important to the community, being a facility which is used by all ages, from the children starting school and learning to swim, to the retired and elderly for whom swimming is a brilliant way of keeping fit and healthy in later years.
"As a result of having its own dedicated pool, Church Stretton residents and indeed many people from surrounding areas are able to access the health benefits associated with swimming in a convenient and local environment.
Although the pool is dated, you do not need 'bells and whistles' to achieve those benefits.
"The group is therefore committed to overseeing fundraising and to liaising with any other interested bodies to effect a comprehensive, but not over-priced, upgrade of the facility, enabling the pool to be preserved for future generations. Unfortunately, however, there are questions surrounding future funding of the pool, and it is therefore imperative that local people, who are in support of the group, make their voices heard if the pool is to stay open."
She said members of the group will be on hand at the sessions to answer questions and supply of copies of the letter to be signed.
"If anyone would like to write a more personal letter, there will be an office and writing paper kindly provided by Priestley's, also on the Square," she said.
Local children will also be encouraged to write and provide pictures, giving their own pleas and pledges of support, she added.
