Swimming Pools

[waitforitwaitforit]

So today swimming pools were allowed to reopen. No council pools in Glasgow are open. No council pools in our surrounding councils appear to be open. Glasgow so far are only planning on opening 2, as far as I can see, and I'm worried that other councils will follow suit, or will limit access to those who are members of their gyms. Apparently Tollcross is only opening for lane swimming. My girls (both toddlers) were really enthusiastic and confident in the pool before lockdown and I'm really worried that this will have set them back permanently. It's just another example of kids being disproportionately disadvantaged by lockdown.

I’m really concerned about this also. Our children have not had the chance to play sports or have PE lessons for six months, and now it looks like they will be further disadvantaged by delays in learning to swim. This could have a major impact on fitness levels, overall health and safety around water. The media is reporting that as many as 50% of England’s community leisure centres could close permanently as a result of losses during the lockdown period.

www.politicshome.com/news/article/leisure-centres-on-brink-of-collapse-due-to-coronavirus-crisis-councils-warns
www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jul/15/special-report-the-battle-to-keep-britains-leisure-centres-open
The Scottish Gov need to commit to helping this industry for the health of the whole community. And leisure providers need to commit to opening for children, unemployed and the elderly, not just those who pay for membership.

No Council run pools in Edinburgh open either. My son is a competitive swimmer and misses it so much. His club swims at a council pool and there’s no plans for it to reopen until 14 September. Luckily we are members of a private gym with pool so he got back there today, but I do worry that not all the council run pools will reopen and many will be disadvantaged by not having the opportunity to take up swimming. It’s such a shame.

In Fife the first pools aren't opening until 14th Sept (the original date they scheduled for pools reopening) and that is just a few that are open then . Our local pool isn't opening until 12th Oct The kids are so dissappointed as I had said that we could possibly go next weekend. They have missed swimming so much, it is (was) a regular Sunday thing for us

Give it time, OP. I'm in England -- my local pool (part council owned) opened 4 weeks after the first date any pools were allowed to open.

@lljkk are children's swimming lessons running in England already?

Bannatyne's reopened yesterday...

I assume the late change to the permitted date meant it was too late to change plans for reopening - reopening from near scratch is probably difficult from a technical perspective - presumably changing water (not sure all can be drained for structural reasons) and getting chlorine levels right takes time and money!

Glasgow life have lost something like £12m due to corona virus. I think they're struggling massively.

She did say that they could open from them, but also that they may not all open on the same day as they may need to prepare first.

@WhyIsItSoHardToPickAUsername

Glasgow life have lost something like £12m due to corona virus. I think they're struggling massively.

Despite the fact that they cut all their services to zilch during lockdown but still collected full council tax. Feckers. They're not opening their libraries either.

Despite the fact that they cut all their services to zilch during lockdown but still collected full council tax. Feckers. They're not opening their libraries either.

Glasgow city council collected the council tax. Glasgow life (who run the libraries, gyms, museums etc) are a charity who are not fully funded by the council. Although I believe the council have agreed to support them currently due to their money problems.

A huge amount of revenue for Glasgow life comes from gym memberships, events and donations.

If there are money/personnel issues (of which I am sure), just say so instead of fobbing off the public with stories of "ordinary maintenance".

Tbf they have repeatedly mentioned money issues on their social media statements.

"like every charity, we’ve been hit hard by Covid-19. The complete shutdown of Glasgow’s museums, libraries and sports venues for more than four months, together with the cancellation of most of the city’s events and festivals this year, has seen the tens of millions of pounds of income which supports our services wiped out. Our financial and staffing constraints are unlike anything we’ve ever faced and there are no easy solutions, which means it’s highly unlikely we’ll be able to return to anything like our normal service provision in the near future. As we prepare for a new way of living and working after coronavirus, our priority will be to ensure that the venues we do reopen are safe for our staff and visitors. We’ll continue to share information when any decisions on our future service provision are made. You can find answers to some frequently asked questions about the reopening of our venues here: bit.ly/2U6usMg "

are children's swimming lessons running in England already?

I expect it varies by centre; my centre seems to be saying they started again on 1 September (but I am just trying to decipher the Facebook page). So they were allowed from 24 July but took this long. Worst part is NO Changing after lessons. This rates as hell in my book. I've been 2 other indoor pools in England that allow changing before leaving - bit disappointed with my local, tbh. Hope they get some sense.

@WhyIsItSoHardToPickAUsername, don't know about Glasgow, but in Falkirk we keep being told that "buildings need to be maintained", etc., however the public library is still shut (6 weeks on) and there is no indication of when it will open. One sports centre should reopen in 2 weeks' time, plus a gym. The rest... who knows (and note, they didn't explicitly say if the swimming pool in the aforementioned sport center will reopen too).
The reason is still the same... checking and maintaining. What do you need to check in a library?
If there are money issues, just say so and that you will not be able to reopen for a while at least. That I can understand and I can sympathise with.

@Arkadia ah ok, don't know about falkirks situation. I think the op was talking specifically about Glasgow

Thanks @lljkk, not sure what we will do if there is a no changing policy. We have 2 kids classes back to back and the youngest needs an adult in the pool

Our council pool has said it will reopen first for lane swimming. Which is great for serious swimmers but not for children.

Highland council has opened slow and fast lane swimming but yea nothing for children. Don't know what the uptake has been where we are though. I'm booked in for the gym next week! I'll have to scope out the pool.b

No children’s swimming in Midlothian. My daughter is a club swimmer but can’t swim as she’s only 11. I can guarantee she’ll be faster than most of the people in the medium speed lane.