What’s happening with the pool?

It seems like a long time ago we first started working on re-opening our local pool! We knew from the start that it would take a long time – and in those early days, we spent lots of time with the team from Lordsfield Swimming club (aka Overton Pool), as they’d successfully achieved what we’re aiming for! This update will provide you with a bit more information as to what we’ve achieved so far, as well as, hopefully, providing answers to some of the questions we’ve been asked so please also see our FAQ‘s.

So what’s happened during the past few months? 

Quite a lot of Fundraising has taken place, some hosted by the pool group and other events by individuals wanting to help. We are so thankful to have so many people be involved in creating and attending these events and supporting the fundraising. We give our sincere thanks to everyone involved, including those who have kindly donated items to our Crowdfunder and raffle prizes!

• Since July 2023, when we started Fundraising, we’ve hosted 5 events including quizzes and bingo nights. (The total raised so far from these events is £2,082.30) 

• We’ve been the recipients of several special fundraising events, such as a Football Tournament, Rotten Hill Cup, Kudos Chocolate Santa Raffle, Bish’s Quiz Nights at the King’s Arms and the Overton and Whitchurch Crib League winnings! (The total raised so far from these events is £1,428.50) 

• We’ve attended the Parish and Christmas PTFA Fetes. (Total raised from both events is £586) 
• We’ve established a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (known as Whitchurch Community Swimming Pool) (Charity Number 1203994). 
• We’ve formed a Trustee Group of 6 local people. 
• We have a committee of 16 local people, all keen to get going with pool maintenance, rotas, plant operations, lifeguarding, training, finance, memberships, etc. 

• We’ve raised around £16,000 from the local community and local businesses via our Crowdfunder. 
• We’ve submitted numerous grant applications – some have been successful, some haven’t – and we’re waiting for news about a large application we’ve submitted. 
• We’ve received £36,694.93 in funding from various organisations, including the Postcode Lottery and Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council and Whitchurch Town Council. 
• We’ve had numerous surveys of the pool, the plant and the site to better understand what needs to be done in order to open. 
• We’ve been getting quotes from local trades and specialist pool maintenance companies so that we know what we need to spend in order to open. 
• We’ve presented our business plan to the Testbourne Governing Body (and they agreed that we could proceed with our plans). 
• We’ve negotiated the ‘Heads of Terms’ which form the basis of our lease with Testbourne – which has now gone to Hampshire Legal Services for them to start drawing up the lease. 
• We’ve successfully registered the pool as an Asset of Community Value. 

We know that progress may seem slow, but we’ve been working really hard in the background to get up and running. Some of the key items taking time are: 

• Understanding what is needed to open and operate safely – and finding that there is much more work to do that we initially expected, which of course needs more funds than we planned. 

• Working to achieve an agreed set of terms for the the lease which of course is complicated as Testbourne need to be confident that the lease is in the best interests of the school, with WCSP also needing to make sure it’s in the interests of the Charity!  The Lease has now been passed to Hampshire Legal Services by Testbourne’s Governing Body, for them to draft the Lease.