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The Pells Pool
Opening
When you next dive into the Pells and complain about the cold,
just be happy that this historic swimming pool is still there.
In 1999 The Lewes District Council, sick of funding a money-losing
operation, decided to convert it into a skateboard park. There
was some uproar: however few people were regularly using the
pool, anybody who grew up here had fond memories of endless
sunny afternoons dive-bombing into the water as kids. A well-attended
extra ordinary Town Meeting resulted in a petition with 4,000
names on it rejecting the closure. In 2001 the pool’s
day-to-day maintenance was taken over by the Pells Pool Community
Association, a registered charity mixing paid workers with
volunteers: the pool’s future now looks secure.
Its past is long and glorious. When in the 1930’s the
lido boom saw outdoor pools being built all over the UK, the
Pells Pool was already 70-odd years old. Built in 1860, and
now a Grade 2 listed building, The Pells is the oldest freshwater
outdoor pool in the country, fed by a natural spring directly
below. It was built to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond
Jubilee and given to the townspeople of Lewes alongside part
of the adjacent park and the Pells Pond. The current pool,
40 metres by 20, is inside the shell of the original 1860
pool. It will be interesting to see how many people take a
dip on the opening day this summer: the Countryside 7-day
weather forecast promises rain, with average daytime temperatures
of 12 degrees centigrade: the water temperature of the pool
on Tuesday read around 14 degrees. Brrr. AL
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