Make a splash in the new pool – from November 15

 

 

 

Construction on the state-of-the-art £13.5m pool, which was part-funded by Sport England, commenced in July last year.

The fantastic facilities it offers to residents and visitors to the town include a 25-metre-long eight-lane competition pool and a world class diving pool.

The diving pool has fixed platforms at 1m, 3m, 5m, 7.5m and 10m, two springboards at 1m and a further springboard at 3m.

It also features a moveable floor to enable swimming lessons and exercise classes to take place, as well as a water agitation and air cushion system.

Other features of the new pool include

• a dry-diving training facility complete with harness and trampolines
• 374 tiered seats, including 22 wheelchair spaces, and
• a small fun pool with water slide

British Swimming has already announced its intention to use the new pool as a training base for the British Olympic diving team prior to the London 2012 games.

It will also hold its annual 5m and 1m assessment camps at SSDC in December 2010 and November 2011.

Among the divers set to benefit from the superb new facilities will be 16-year-old Commonwealth Games double gold medallist Tom Daley.

On Monday 15th November the new facilities will open from 0630 for adult swimmers (18 and over). Under-18s will be given access to the pool from 0900 onwards.

Transport links to the new pool have been improved by extending the operating hours of the number 27 and 2 bus services which run to Garon Park from the town centre.

The number 27 will run from Southend Travel Centre from 0604 to 2230 on Mondays to Fridays and 0630 to 2220 on Saturdays.

It will operate half-hourly until 1000 and then every 20 minutes until 1800, when it reverts to a half-hourly service.

On Sundays the service becomes the number 2 and will run hourly from 0854 to 1918 from the bus stop opposite the Sutton Arms pub on Southchurch Road .

Timetables are displayed at bus stops but for further details please visit the timetable section of http://www.firstgroup.com/

Operators First have indicated they will increase the frequency of service if demand makes this necessary.

As a result of the new pool opening Warriors Swim Centre will close its doors to the public for the last time on the afternoon of Sunday 31st October.

Staff from Warriors, who are transferring to the new pool, will undergo induction and training at their new workplace before it opens to the public.

Councillor Derek Jarvis, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council's Executive Councillor for Culture, said: "I am delighted to announce that the new pool will open to the public on 15th November.

"This pool is a fantastic sporting and leisure asset and I hope it will provide enjoyment for residents and visitors to the town for decades to come.

"Everyone involved in the new pool project deserves great praise for seeing the concept through to fruition and delivering this stunning new sporting facility on time.

"We now have a truly world class swimming and diving arena in Southend - the fact the British diving team intends to use it as an Olympic training base bears testimony to this."