Shake-up puts pool under threat

HOPEFUL: Three-year-old Hope Price helps to launch the Save Our Swim campaign

A tide of local opinion has been growing against the possible closure of the Barbican and Yearsley Pools since the Evening Press revealed that they may be shut as part of a massive shake-up of leisure services in the city.

An action group is being set up tomorrow to safeguard the future of Yearsley Pool, a petition against its closure has already gained more than 2,000 signatures and another has been started for the Barbican Pool.

Both pools are said to need substantial investment - as part of a reappraisal of the part the local authority plays in leisure.

The council also faces the problem of having to trim up to £1.9 million from its leisure services budget by 2003.

But scores of swimmers across York say the pools are not just used for social and recreation purposes - many are quite literally there for the good of their health.

They flatly reject the assertion by York's acting head of leisure services, Charlie Croft, that the city doesn't need three publicly-run pools, saying the current facilities, including the Edmund Wilson Pool, are all essential.

One of the co-ordinators of the Yearsley Pool campaign, York GP Peter Burgess, said: "It would be a tragedy if it was to be shut."

He added: "I think there are more people using it than the council thinks. I think they have underestimated the strength of feeling."

Fellow campaigner Fiona Evans said they had gathered 2,150 signatures on a petition, but many sheets were still out and other petitions were being started.

A petition backing the Barbican Pool has been started by Linda Atkinson, who said she had gathered 300 signatures in just three days.

Swimmers speak of heal benefits from pools

The Barbican main pool: swimmers, many of them elderly, swim here regularly to maintain their fitness and health

The prospect of losing two of York's pools has provoked a major backwash of protest from local swimmers.

John Stead, 70, from Burnholme, and Jack Birch, aged 78, from Muncaster, are regular swimmers at both the Yearsley and Barbican Pools.

And if both are forced to close and are converted into health clubs, people like Mr Stead and Mr Birch could be forced to travel as far afield as Selby or Tadcaster.

"It's about the only kind of exercise I can do - I can't use those fitness centres," said Mr Birch.

He added that although he was a fitness fanatic he now suffered a disease which attacks the bones. "I can swim further than I can walk," he said.

Mr Stead continued that both pools generated a lot of community spirit.

Sheila Applequist, aged 74, from Burton Stone Lane said she was "just devastated" when she heard the Yearsley Pool in Haxby Road might close, having used it since the 1950s.

"I need to come here every week. It's a great little swimming pool," she added. But Mrs Applequist said she was unable to get to any of the city's other pools on a Sunday morning.

Jean Croft, 65, from Haxby, said she had swum at Yearsley since 1945, going there daily since she retired a year ago. The most important thing about the pool was its length, and she was also concerned about the children that learned to swim there.

Two local doctors added their voice to the protest. Dr Joanne Simpson, a locum GP, who swims most mornings at Yearsley, said: "I come here for my own personal fitness, but I feel very strongly. It's a great pool for a lot of people with a lot of different illnesses.

"I strongly recommend patients to come here, because I think it's the best pool in York."

But she added: "It's hard to recommend exercise to patients if it's not easily available - people won't do it. I feel strongly there should be a local pool, and have written to the council about it."

Dr Kris Grummitt, a GP in Holgate, backed Dr Simpson, adding there was currently a big political push against cardiovascular disease, adding: "Swimming is a very beneficial exercise, because so many people can do it, whatever their disabilities." It was also a major factor in pain management. She said although swimming was now on the National Curriculum schools could opt out of it if a pool was not available, and this was an activity that could save childrens' lives.

Rob Oldfield from East Mount Road said he started swimming to help him with serious back problems after suffering whiplash injuries in a car accident. Cathy Smurthwaite from Burnholme said she was asthmatic and if she went to Yearsley feeling "chesty", after a swimming session she left feeling "fine".

Marie Taylor, the chairman of the Jorvik Life Saving Club which uses Yearsley, said they may be able to find another pool, but that could lead to the loss of members.

If you want to support the Evening Press campaign to save the pools please write to: Evening Press Newsdesk, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN, or telephone us on 01904-653051, or email us on newsdesk@ycp.co.uk.

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