HENDY POOL

RESULTS of a survey have shown that Hendy Pool will cost around hundreds of thousands of pounds to replace.

The facility is beyond economical repair and would need to be replaced with a new structure, engineers have recommended.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s executive board called for a detailed report following structural damage to the basin which led to the closure of the pool.

An initial report had shown it needed at least £100,000 spent on it in the short-term with no guarantee of the repairs lasting.

The council has been in talks with the community since then to try to find a way forward.

Members asked for the in-depth survey to be carried out to assess the pool’s condition.

It has now been completed and states that: “We are of the opinion that the swimming pool structure has reached the end of its useful life and, although it would be possible to undertake repairs to the existing structure, we are of the opinion that, in the long term, it would be more financially beneficial to remove the existing pool and provide a new structure designed in accordance with current guidelines and taking due consideration of the prevailing ground conditions and varying water table.”

Officers estimate the cost of providing a new pool would be hundreds of thousands of pounds and are now seeking accurate costings.

Leisure executive board member Cllr Clive Scourfield said: “It is extremely disappointing that the current facility is judged to be beyond economical repair.

“We now need to look at this report and continue our talks with the community to determine the best way forward.”

As a Community Councillor for Hendy and a committee member of the Hendy Pool, I write to you on behalf of the Red Lion Hendy, who have kindly donated their services to help save Hendy Pool.

The pool was built by volunteers of the community in 1932 and next year it will be the 75^th anniversary of the pool. The volunteers were only paid a packet of woodbine or a bar of chocolate for their daily services.

In 1983 after fifty years the pool was taken over by the county council, who run it until 1999, in 2001 and was run by volunteers of the village but still owned by the county, during this season the volunteers run it at a profit, but sadly it closed because the wall formed a crack during the winter and there has been very little grant funding for outdoor pools until now.

In this years budget there was 500million pledged for pools and two lido’s similar to Hendy have just won lottery funding this year. Grant finding specialists have been helping the committee and nearly all grant sources require the organization to find match funding. The pool committee, therefore need to raise money to put money towards any grant they may find.

The Red Lion has agreed to help by organizing a weekend of fund raising Sat and Sun August 12^th and 13^th. Two Llanelli tribute acts Red Mick, who is the UK’s ultimate simply red tribute, www.simplyredtribute.com, and Meatloaf have pledged to sing to Save Hendy Pool by doing a show on the Sunday.

I hope you can support the pool committee and the Red Lion to help raise funds to SAVE HENDY POOL, TWO THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED LOCALS signed a petition, to be presented to Carmarthen County Council in the next few weeks. The petition reads

In the 1930’s volunteers from the community built the pool with funding from the government and 170 lido’s were built nationally, of which only 31 remain today.

Local volunteers took over the running of the pool, assisted with a small grant of £7,000 from the County, the pool committee, in 2001 the last season the pool was open, actually broke even with 5000 visitors using the facility, where as it had previously cost the county in excess of £30,000 to run. In December 2004 and February 2005 approximately 150 locals met with C.C.C representatives to discuss the future of Hendy pool.

We the undersigned understand locals have reformed a new committee and are still campaigning to keep the community pool. We welcome the statement from the Chancellor in the 2006 budget, that there will be more funding for leisure and sports activities in the run up to the Olympics 2012. We therefore support the Save the Hendy Pool Campaign and we sincerely hope the pool committee and the Carmarthen County Council are successful in their search for funding to save our Pool which was built by volunteers for the community.

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The response to date has been amazing, Felinfoel Brewery was one of the first big donations giving us some free stock and a cheque for £300, though we have had a few bigger gifts in the form of prizes and services, we have had two £100 cash donations as well as 10 smaller cash donations up to £50. Here is a list of the individuals and companies that have already donated.

Celtic driving school of motoring Llanelli, Major Automatics of Porthcawl, Fforest Mot Services, Barry the Butchers Hendy, Kevin Cody, 7Hundred Autos, M & R Builders Hendy, Lee Owen Hendy pool committee, Vernon Hicks Hendy pool committee, Mike Thomas Hendy pool committee, W.D. Printers Bont, Absolute Snooker, Mike Llewellyn, Mc Donner Kebab House Bont, Leafra Service Group Bridgend, Anne Giles Hendy, White Springs Fisheries Bont, The Red Lion Hotel, The Wheatsheafe Bont, John Neamen Morriston, Quality Vehicles Cwmbwla, Nichola Thomas Bont, Elite Aerials Swansea, Knight and Brenchley Gorseinon, Ian Evans pluming Hendy, Gomer Williams & Co Solicitors Llanelli, John Mathias Butchers Bont, TAD Builders Llanelli, HSS Hire Shop Ammanford, Global Free Energy Burry Port, Glamorgan Arms Pontlliw, Verdi’s of the Mumbles, Leo Lyon’s of the Mumbles, Lewis Pie’s Swansea, A.W. Williams tree surgeries Grovesend, Teilo Engineering Bont, A Rees Carpentry Services Llanelli, The Red Lion pool team, Rudi Wolf Bont, T J Dinner’s Pontarddulais, A M Auto Welding Fforest, Chris Morris Window Cleaning Services Swansea, Bont Taxi’s, Tracy’s mobile beauty services Dafen, Border Entertainment, Elias TV’s Bont, The White Lion pool team Llwynhendy, The Duke pub Morriston, Richards estate agents, Paradise Chip Shop Bont, Interflora florist Bont, Noakes Bakeries, Arwyl's Hair Saloon Bont, Barclays Bont, Elwyn's Pet Shop Bont, Bailey's Toy Shop Bont, Co-op Bont, John Jefferies Car Sales Bont, Tate Refigeration Tynabona Bont, Ray Wolfe Bont, Kalfyn Evans Hendy pool committee, Hendy Spar, The Styling Station Bury Port, Spot Office Bont, Grand Prix Off Road ltd Bont, The Spar Bont, The Black Horse Hendy, A.W. Richards Tycroes

Ideally we would like cash, cheques made payable to Hendy Pool and Parks Committee but anything will do, a small gift for the raffle or a promise or gift for the charity auction would be acceptable. You can ring Tony Polverino the land lord of the Red Lion at 01792 883989

I write to you on behalf of the Red Lion Hendy, who has kindly donated their services to help save Hendy Pool and on behalf of the pool committee.

Many thanks to all the kind people of the local community for the gifts promises and cheques.

The event was all organized in a very short time. It was all put together in under four weeks, we had over 130 gifts which were used as services to put the show together and presents for raffles or the auction from businesses from Llanelli, Gorseinon, Morriston, Mumbles and Tycroes.

On Saturday the auction made £655 and on Sunday the auction made £1350; with the cheques and the raffle money collected the total to date is almost £4600 and I know that we will exceed £5000 as there are people who promised cheques and they are in the post.

If you need more info on the campaign you can ring Tony Polverino the land lord of the Red Lion at 01792 883989, we had 50 raffle prizes and we have about 8 raffle prizes unclaimed at the moment, however there are telephone numbers on the backs of prizes and hopefully we will get hold of the winners.

Once again thanks for your kind generosity. If you haven’t already donated please make cheques payable to Hendy Pool and parks committee.

There will be more news very soon and possibly another evening of entertainment, as other acts who are friends of myself and the tribute acts, have already pledged to

“LETS SING TO SAVE HENDY POOL”, more details will be forwarded soon when dates are confirmed. Details will be on the www.pontardulais.com