6:53pm Thursday 2nd July 2009
By ivor
We certainly are enjoying some fine weather at the moment. As I walked around the town centre today on my regular lunchtime walk I paused in the grounds of the Parish Church to rest on a bench in the shade of a tree.
Taking my handkerchief from my pocket I mopped my brow before tucking into my sandwiches. All around people were relaxing in the sun although some people looked as if they were struggling to cope with the high temperatures.
My mind flashed back to my recent visit to the Rye during which I happened to see the Holywell Mead swimming pool. Sadly the doors were closed and the pool had been drained.
As I walked around the abandoned pool lots of people were coming up to the railings and peering through. Even though not in use the pool was attracting a great deal of attention.
Opened on the 1st June 1957 and built to a 1930’s design the pool is a credit to the town. It was the only public swimming pool in Wycombe until 1975 when the Handy Cross complex was opened.
I managed to find a gap in the fence and got a glimpse of the swimming area. Sadly weeds were growing between the paving stones and the pool, devoid of water, looked a sorry sight. It made me feel very angry.
For the sake of a few thousand pounds of our Council Tax money that pool could be open today and people of all ages could be enjoying themselves cooling off in the current sweltering temperatures.
How can such a marvellous facility simply be closed in such a way especially when public money has been spent keeping it open all these years? To close it now is simply a waste of all the public money already spent over the past 52 years.
I wonder what will happen to the pool?
The pool is built on the site of a roman villa which was last seen in the 1930’s. After searching the internet I found some pictures from the archaeological excavation that took place in 1932.
All that remains of the villa are some mosaic floors and the foundations of the walls. The remains are not that impressive and I doubt if they would be a tourist attraction if the pool was knocked down and the mosaics exposed.
When you consider all the money being wasted on feasibility studies into building unnecessary sports stadiums the few thousand pounds that were required to keep the pool open would have been money well spent.
I do hope the Holywell Mead swimming pool re-opens soon. When it does I may even get out my inflatable armbands and go for a swim there myself.
What do you think?
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