A COMMUNITY venture in an East Yorkshire village has received a cash boost as it plans for the next forty years of use and more.

Stamford Bridge Community Pool received a £5,000 donation and committee chair Shelley Lawton said the monies will go towards essential maintenance projects.

Shelley said: “The pool has been the scene where local children have learned to swim since the 1980s – when the changing rooms were outdoors!

“Not only does it provide local employment for young adults in the village who are our lifeguards, everyone from mums with their babies to those in their seventies use it.”

Shelley – a New Zealand native whose Invercargill upbringing on the tip of South Island also saw her take a first job as a lifeguard, stressed the importance of the Stamford Bridge Community Pool and much needed donations.

She said: “When I moved to Stamford Bridge with my then three-year-old son, we taught him to swim at the Community Pool and it was a great way for me to get to know people.

“The £5,000 will go towards a new pool cover - the current one has holes in it and is extremely difficult to wind.

“A new cover will help towards controlling energy costs too, which is especially necessary given that in the financial year to end August 2023, our energy bills ran to £8,000.

“We’ve also got warped wooden doors to replace and a big capital project would be to install solar panels on the roof, but that needs strengthening first.”

Shelley Lawton and fellow volunteers on the committee accepted a £5,000 donation on behalf of Stamford Bridge Community Pool from Swish Fibre / AllPoints Fibre’s Community Project Team.

The company added that it will make more donations to the pool as customers take up the service.

Mark Furnass from AllPoints Fibre said: “As someone from the area, I am pleased that we are able to help with worthwhile community & charitable causes such as the swimming pool.”