Newsletter - March 2020 -

Welcome to our first newsletter

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. This forms an ongoing commitment from the pool committee to keep you up to date with our strategy, plans and events lined to the Shoalstone Seawater Pool. We will be publishing the newsletter quarterly and welcome any contributions you may have or ideas for its improvement.

In November last year we published a draft strategy for the pool. If you haven’t yet seen it you can find a copy here. Following publication we’ve taken the strategy to consultation including presentations to the pool AGM, local Council, Chamber of Commerce, Brixham College and their Student Council meeting, YES and the Peninsula Community Partnership. We also ran an online survey to which many of you contributed.

We’re pleased to say that the feedback was amazing. There’s huge support for the direction we are taking and many constructive comments and ideas. We are indebted to those who contributed and are in the process of revising the strategy and building a set of plans to deliver it.

As a result of the feedback we can announce that we are fully committed to the dissolution of the Community Interest Company and the formation of a new organisation by which we can gain charitable status. This is critical to our plans for fundraising. Linked to this is our will to continue providing access to the pool for free with a donation advised.

We took on board many comments concerning charging but the majority of feedback indicated that the pool should remain open to any and all with no restrictions. A significant number of you expressed concern about the phrase “membership scheme” and we understand that it has sown some confusion. We’re going to have a long look at our wording as the intention was to recruit patrons to our cause rather than charge for the pool via a membership levy.

The name of the pool was raised by some and we were asked to consider a rebrand as a “lido”. However, we feel that the pool is known locally and nationally as a pool. We want to keep the phrase “seawater” in the name as this clearly distinguishes us from swimming pools and thus are pushing ahead as “Shoalstone Seawater Pool”.

Finally we’ve poured over all of your ideas as to how we can improve the pool’s infrastructure, raise the pools profile and raise more funds. Thank you so much for these, there is a lot to think about and a lot to do. As a result we’re reorganising the way we work as a team to allow us to manage these effectively. We recognise that we have gaps in our team that must be filled in order for our vision to be achieved. We are actively looking for those people including new volunteers to help with all aspects of pool development and management.

If you think you are one of them please get in touch.

2020 brings two exciting fundraising events for the pool. On March 3rd Rockfish Restaurant held a charity dinner in aid of the pool. Tickets proved hugely popular and sold out within a week. Thank you Brixham we appreciate it! A charity raffle and auction raised an AMAZING £2000 on the night. Thank you so much to all who attended and dug deep into their wallets. And thanks also to those who provided the prizes

Saturday the 11th April sees another dog swim at the pool starting from 11:30am. These have proved very popular and are great fundraisers. Come along and see the spectacle even if you haven’t got a dog.

On Friday April 17th The Friends of Shoalstone Pool are putting on a concert in aid of the pool with local musicians entertaining us for the evening. The event will be held at the Scala Hall starting at 7:30pm. We’re very excited to announce that the local MusicAtTheEdge group from YES will be launching the evening with a song written especially for the pool. Please tell your friends and family, tickets will shortly be available from The Friends.

The pool opening date has been set for the 23rd May at 3pm. We will be running stalls and have a live band playing. Watch this space for details of who will be opening the pool. We’re just waiting to hear back from them…

In order to drive forward our plans to safeguard and improve the pool we are looking for someone who has deep civil engineering or site operations experience from a strategic point of view. Are you the sort of person who could help us build a tactical and strategic plan for the pool and then help us deliver it? Maybe you know someone who has retired and would be willing to give us some time. Maybe you know a relevant business who are looking to do some good in the community?

The pool committee meet monthly and even though the pool is closed we have a lot on our plate. We commissioned an expert to carry out a Health and Safety audit of our operations and are busy putting corrective measures in place.

We are looking at the signage around the pool site, and also on the way in to Brixham to make sure folks know where we are. You would be surprised how many visitors and Torbay residents alike don’t know the pool exists. This was highlighted in a survey we carried out at the pool last summer.

And on a related issue, we have been considering how we can improve the disabled access around the site. As a first step, with improved signage, hand rails and some widened paths we hope we can make visits for those with disabilities a lot easier. We hope to make significant improvements this year and are also making accessibility a cornerstone of our development plans moving forward.

Dave Barter has recently joined the committee and will be helping us enhance our website and drive forward our strategy.

Throughout winter we still need to empty and clean the pool in order to prevent a build up of silt and debris. Recent storms have interrupted our schedule with our last full clean happening on the 27th December. Ten of our hardy volunteers helped us scrape the base clean and powerwash the walls and decking. A solitary crab was returned to the sea.

You may have noticed that a set of railings were damaged in a recent storm and we will be repairing these prior to opening. We also suffered vandalism from a graffiti artist, damage to changing rooms and the sea itself which has thrown up a large volume of stones onto the decking (now cleared).

As always we are hugely grateful to our volunteers who help us inspect, clean and maintain the pool. It may not seem like it but we are as busy when the pool is closed as we are during high season.

If you’ve been down to Breakwater Beach recently you may have seen two bearded gentlemen swimming away in the freezing seas. These two fellows are Chris and Bear also known as the 365 Sea Swimmers. They are taking a dip in the sea every day, whatever the weather, for a year in aid of the pool and the Seal project. You can show your support here https://www.gofundme.com/f/365swim

The Friends of Shoalstone Pool http://www.friendsofshoalstonepool.co.uk/ continue to support us with their drive to raise funds to sustain and develop the pool. We all owe them a huge debt for their tireless efforts and the events they run throughout the year. The Friends fund many of our initiatives and actively support and promote the benefits of using the pool. Thank You!

Please consider supporting the Friends by becoming a member. It’s a small donation and every little helps. More details at http://www.friendsofshoalstonepool.co.uk/square-metre/4588968275

We’re always keen to hear from you on any matter concerning the pool be it fundraising ideas, offers for help or anything that we may not have thought of. Please feel free to get in touch via our email address info@shoalstonepool.com or phone Dave on 07799 414702.

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Contact Us

Shoalstone Pool, Berry Head Road, Brixham,TQ5 9FT

Further Information

We are always keen to hear your views and feedback. If you have something to tell us please do get in touch. New Volunteers are always welcome. We’re busy maintaining and improving the pool all year round.