August 2nd.

The whole of the pool surrounds has been re-surfaced with a new compound.

This is now very comfortable to walk on with bare feet, and extremely safe, giving an excellent grip when wet.

May 31st.

New electrically operated covers have been installed as part of the refurbishment. These will conserve a great deal of heat overnight when the pool is covered up.

It also makes the job of winding them back in much easier!

May 31st.

The pool opened on schedule on Saturday, all the work has now been completed, it was a mammoth effort by the pool staff to get all the building mess cleared up, and the pool ready for opening day!

All we need now is the weather!

May 24th.

Tuesday afternoon, and the pool's now more than half full, the pumps and the boiler are on and work is well under way on the pool surround,

The new pool covers and were delivered today, and they should be installed tomorrow.

May 23rd.

The work on the liner is now complete, and this morning, Severn Trent Water started filling the pool. Water's pumping in at a rate of 360 litres a minute. Almost half a million litres wil be needed, so it should be full by tomorrow.

As soon as the depth is sufficient, the plant will be switched on and the process of heating and chlorination will begin, ready for the opening day on Saturday.

The pool surround will be coated with epoxy over the next few days, and the new electrically operated covers installed on Wedesday.

May 17th.

The new fibre glass covering of the basin is now nearing completion, and next Monday the pool is due to be filled with water.

May 11th.

The new covering of the base of the pool is now almost complete.

Over the next few days, the sides will be done, it will then have to be left for a week to cure before the water can be put in.

May 10th.

The protective tent like cover is now in place over the pool basin, and the work of coating the old tiles with a glass fibre and epoxy lining is well under way.

The new lining will be a pale blue colour, giving a more modern look than the existing white ceramic tiles.

This lining will extend over the walk way surrounding the pool, where it will have a quartz non slip finish.

When the work is complete, almost half a million litres of water will be put in, chlorinated, and heated prior to opening.

May 5th.

The sandblasting is now finished, and the roughened tiles have been coated with chemicals which will enable the new liner to adhere correctly.

Work started today with the erection of the framework which will support the protective cover needed for the re-lining to commence.

This should start within the next few days.

April 30th.

Sandblasting the pool basin started this morning. This will take off the surface of the old tiles giving a good surface for the new liner to stick to.

The next stage will be to erect a "tent" over the pool to give cover from the weather when the new liner is fitted.

April 20th.

The pool has now been completely emptied of water, the fine dry weather of late has been a great help in facilitating this.

Work started this week, with the removal of the top layer of tiles and the gutter rail. There will be a smaller profile rail on the new basin covering.

A cover will be erected over the pool next week to allow work to start on the lining process.

April 10th.

Work has now started on the refurbishment, the pool has been emptied, apart from the last few thousand litres which will have to be pumped out.

The old pool covers and rollers have been removed, these will be replaced with new electrically operated units when the building work is complete.

October 2010

This was how the pool looked at the end of the 2010 season.

Everything looks fine, but the pool is now 75 years old, and time has taken its toll on the intergrity of the basin, which is now in a bad way. The winter frosts have damaged many of the ceramic tiles and gutters, making a major programme of re-furbishment needed.

Work will start in April 2011 to re-line the basin with a fibre glass and epoxy resin coating. This should ensure the long term future of this unique outdoor swimming pool.

This is the first part of an on-going programme, which will also see the pool plant and filtration units being replaced during the coming years.