Patch up cash may save pool

By Kath Gannaway
AN INJECTION of money for outdoor community pools has given the Seville Township Pool Committee (STPC) new hope of saving its pool.
James Merlino, Minister for Sport and Recreation and a former Shire of Yarra Ranges councillor, announced last week that rejuvenating outdoor pools in rural Victoria and in interface councils was the focus of the government’s new Seasonal Pool Renewal Program.
Mr Merlino said the program would provide grants of up to $200,000 to rejuvenate seasonal (outdoor) pools in rural communities.
As a new category in the 2008-09 Community Facility Funding Program (CFFP), the funding would not have been included in the Shire of Yarra Ranges’s recently released review of pools in the shire.
The review cast doubt on the future of pools such as Seville and Warburton.
STPC president Bill Dobson welcomed the news of additional funding but he was especially pleased with the emphasis by the government on recognition of the community and social contribution pools provide in small townships.
“In small rural communities, the local swimming pool is often one of the major catalysts for bringing people together,” Mr Merlino said.
“This program will breathe new life into these crucial community assets to ensure they remain a central gathering place for many years to come.”
Community involvement is a sentiment shared by friends Gwen Gniel and Karin Collins.
The women met when their children first attended kindergarten 16 years ago.
“This was a great place to come to with little ones,” said Mrs Gniel, who is also a STPC member.
“It helped establish our friendship, as well as the children’s friendships.”
Mrs Gniel said the hours then were much more user-friendly and attributes the loss of patronage in recent times to the reduced and often inappropriate opening hours.
Ms Collins is the second of three-generations of Seville Pool users.
Her mother, Barbara McNeill, moved to Seville 32 years ago and established the same sort of friendships that her daughter has.
“In those days we used to buy fish and chips and stay until dark, or until they threw us out,” she said.
A spokesman for Minister Merlino’s office said the ministry had found that a lot of the funding applied for by councils was for major projects.
“We want rural pools, some which are run down, some old, to benefit from this specific category of funding which is for maintenance … cracks, filters, all the little stuff,” he said.
“We are giving councils the opportunity to apply for funding to keep these at a standard where people can continue to use them as a meeting place,” he added.