Save Mid Argyll Swimming Pool

With the Mid Argyll Swimming pool facing closure by Christmas 2009, due to the absence of the correct level of core funding from Argyll and Bute council. Here's our last chance, to convince our elected officials to meet their responsibilities to ensure our children can learn to swim safely.

Mid Argyll Swimming Pool is located in Lochgilphead, Physically and historically this is the heartland of rural Argyll and of Scotland itself and is geographically located between the Sound of Jura in the west and Loch Fyne in the east. The pool serves a population of 9,000 people

The swimming pool opened in March 1996 after many years of fund-raising within the local community. Mid Argyll Community Pool is a community-owned social enterprise owned and operated by Mid Argyll Community Enterprise Ltd, which is a Registered Charity.

It provides schools and the wider community with an invaluable health and leisure resource, and allows children to further their physical development whilst learning to swim in a high quality, safe environment, an essential skill given the coastal nature of the area.
The pool provides opportunities for all kinds of water-based recreation and learning, and is fully involved with other community ventures such as the local Triathlon and Cycling Club, who organise the annual MacQueen Bros. Mid Argyll Triathlon and Dalriada Dolphins. Activities include children’s swimming club, swimming lessons, Aqua-Fit etc.

The pool is also an important resource to the economic well-being of the Mid-Argyll area. It provides employment to 8 full time and 3 casual staff and is a useful facility for businesses who, value the pool as a useful service to the area.

It is a promotional feature essential for the tourist industry as a leisure and visitor attraction, and it is an important option for those tourists who come to the area to walk, cycle and make the most of an active holiday.

The community support of the pool was demonstrated by as massive fund raising effort at the beginning of 2009 when £25,000 was raised by the community to pay off its debts and give the new Board time to review its operating viability and develop a sustainabile business plan. This is now complete and has been submitted to Argyll and Bute council.

It is vital that the pool remains open for all the foregoing reasons.