Last year's holiday was the last straw for Margaret Crome - she took the plunge and resolved to finally learn to swim after 48 years plucking up the courage.

TAKING THE PLUNGE: Margaret Crome, of Haxby, whose efforts to learn to swim will be in vain if Yearsley Pool closes

Margaret, from Haxby, had started lessons at York's Yearsley Pool but hadn't completed them before her holiday, and she was determined not to be left in the shallow end again.

But her efforts may be in vain, for if the prospect of closure for the Yearsley and Barbican Pools becomes reality she will probably stop swimming altogether.

She said: "It has taken me 48 years to pluck up enough courage to have lessons, and now after two terms I actually swam a width for the first time yesterday. It felt like a great achievement.

"There are many people of my generation who never learnt to swim but would love to try with a bit of encouragement. Surely the council would do better to advertise their lessons rather than shut down pools altogether?"

She added that both her children, Beverley, 16, and Andrew 13, had learned to swim, but that would never have happened without the pools.

"I want to have the fun and exercise of swimming," she said. "My son does life saving at Yearsley with the Yorvik Life Saving Club, which he enjoys tremendously.

"He would be heartbroken if it closed," she added.

She added that although much of the focus of the campaign against pool closures had been on younger people, there were a lot of older people in her class learning to swim, and she stressed its importance to them. City of York Council is considering closing both pools as part of a major review of leisure services.

lIf you wish to support the Evening Press Save Our Swim Campaign to protect both the Barbican and Yearsley Pools please write to us at: Evening Press Newsdesk, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN, or email us at newsdesk@ycp.co.uk.

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