Beccles Lido

General information

Despite a 3 year campaign to save the pool by the community, Waveney District Council shut it at the end of 2008. In 2009, the Friends of Beccles Open Air Swimming Pool persuaded the Council that the community should be given the chance to take over the repair and operation of the pool on a not-for-profit basis.

In just 18 months we raised £300,000, including £150,000 from British Gas’ Green Streets programme. With the help of over 100 volunteers and over 10,000 volunteer hours, we saved the pool! In addition to the repair and restoration of the pool itself, we are now generating energy more efficiently as well as conserving energy, which has significantly reduced running costs and emissions.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels have been installed to both generate electricity as well as benefit from the Governments’ feed in tarriffs, which generate cash to offset against any remaining energy bills.

In 2010 we secured the freehold of the pool and re-opened as Beccles Lido. In our second summer season, 2011, we had 30,000 visitors – an all time record!

THIS IS HOW OUR JOURNEY BEGAN

Becclesians had been swimming by the River Waveney for 150 years; and in 1959, Beccles had built an outdoor swimming pool which had been enjoyed by the community ever since.

But Beccles Open Air Swimming Pool had suffered from under investment for a number of years, with a consequent decline in use. Open for only 13 weeks in the summer, it was losing up to £70,000 each season. With the need for significant capital investment in the site and the expected continued need for significant revenue support, Waveney District Council could no longer afford to run the pool. At the end of the 2008 season, Waveney District Council announced that unless an alternative body stepped forward to manage the pool it would not open again. And yet even in 2008 it had been used by nearly 10,000 swimmers, and remained a much loved community facility.

The community had already set up the Friends of Beccles Open Air Swimming Pool and we had campaigned to save the pool since 2006. Our view was that if a longer term plan was implemented the pool could not only be saved but improved, that visitors would increase and that the pool could be viable. We had been raising funds, at first on a small scale to fund small improvements to the pool, such as a giant inflatable. It soon became clear that the wider community in Waveney wanted to save the pool, and fund raising events and donations in 2008 topped £5,000.

The combination of the above led to us creating Beccles Lido Limited whose vision was to create a destination facility – Beccles Lido, where local people, visitors and tourists would want to visit and where bathers could have fun, keep fit or just relax in the beautiful surroundings of the river Waveney. Beccles Lido Limited was set up as a company limited by guarantee (to protect its Directors) and is now a registered charity. During 2009 over £40,000 was raised, and all of a sudden it seemed that our vision might be able to be turned into a reality. Following several presentations to Waveney District Council, we convinced them that Beccles Lido Limited should be given the opportunity to prove that we could acquire and manage the pool.

There were several reasons why the number of swimmers, and with them revenue, had declined in recent years. One of the primary reasons was thought to be the general un-attractiveness of the site. A six foot high security fence immediately around the pool gave the impression of swimming in a cage and reduced the attractiveness of the entire site. The removal of the diving boards had taken away another reason for some to come to the pool. The inflexible opening hours, with closure at lunchtime at weekends and closure during warm sunny Septembers, certainly was not helping to entice people to the pool. Once in the pool, there was little by way of café facilities to generate additional revenue or persuade them to stay beyond their swim.

This combined with the overall inefficiency of the site – old heating plant and pumps, little insulation, leaking pipes and pool structure – meant that the water cost too much to heat, expensively heated water then leaked away, meaning more water had to be paid for then heated again, expensively! The pool is 30 metres x 15 metres with a 4 metre deep end – that’s big! And a lot of water to heat, then lose and re-heat again!

We formulated a plan to improve the site – the location of the swimming pool on the banks of the River Waveney had never really been exploited; a derelict canoe shed and conifer hedge obscured views to the river; the security fence around the pool had to go! Could we restore the diving boards? Get a slide? But the plan also had to make the Lido more efficient, sustainable even! New boilers were required, maybe even renewable energy? The leaks had to be fixed. The pool needed a cover to retain the precious heat from the water. Could Solar PV generate the electricity that we needed?

But all of this needed lots of money! The Council had estimated maybe £100,000 just to repair the infrastructure! We set about applying for grants to raise what seemed like an extraordinary amount of money; but the reality was: we knew we would need even more! A lot more!

Then we chanced upon the British Gas Green Streets programme. Was this the answer we had been looking for? Cash beyond our dreams and we hoped advice on which measures would make most sense for us. And luckily, with our supporter database of many hundreds, no shortage of willing volunteers to participate in the domestic part of the project.

We made our bid – we thought it was a good one! Luckily the judges saw that we had the basis of a fantastic project, and like the Council they saw that we had the enthusiasm and resources to deliver what would be an incredible success story. We were selected as a wild card in December 2009 and our journey along the Green Streets began.

[British Gas Green Streets was not just a grant, it was a competition that ran thorugh 2010. 14 projects around the UK were selected to share £2m and install energy saving and energy generating measures at a community facility and 20+ domestic households. http://www.greenstreets.co.uk/beccles-lido/]

With our early fundraising successes, and then the British Gas grant, additional grant funds quickly followed and our project flourished.

For a month by month blog and pictures of how we set about restoring and re-opening Beccles Lido, please go check out our early Photo Albums …

… then come to Beccles and check us out!