Chatteris swimming pool pleas for funds to reopen

The grandson of a person who transformed a former cinema right into a Cambridgeshire city’s swimming pool has appealed for donations to get it reopened.

The Empress pool in Chatteris opened in 1964 after native builder Percy Rooke purchased and transformed the constructing.

The website was pressured to shut in 2023 after structural points had been found.

Mr Rooke’s grandson, Julian Frost, mentioned hundreds of kilos had been spent by the charity that runs the constructing to get it again open once more, but it surely wanted about £10,000 extra as a way to open the doorways.

“We are getting so close to opening the pool again,” mentioned Mr Frost, 43, a trustee of the pool.

Over the final 20 months main works have taken place throughout the constructing, however the ultimate work contains reinstating the holes across the pool and encasing the metal posts.

The Empress Swimming Pool Trust has arrange its personal fundraising web page on GoFundMe to assist pay for the work.

The website, which is the Fenland city’s solely public swimming pool, has given many generations of native youngsters someplace secure to study to swim.

“Before the pool, youngsters learnt to swim in drains and rivers, which is obviously not ideal,” mentioned Mr Frost.

“I learnt to swim in the Empress and so did all my brothers.”

Mr Frost, who’s a serving RAF officer, mentioned he was doing all he may to lift cash to complete off the previous few jobs on the power.

Local companies had been serving to with donations, he mentioned, and Peterborough United not too long ago provided the belief a signed soccer, which made one other £300.

“If we can get together about £10k in the next few weeks, I reckon we can be open again in January next year,” he added.

Chatteris Town Council mentioned the Empress pool belief had been invited to submit an software for grant funding, which might be thought of by the city council at its assembly on 7 October.