Month: March 2017

Last chance to re-open Arthur Hill Pool?

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Demo 260916

In September 2016 Reading Borough Council announced, out of the blue, that they would be closing Arthur Hill Swimming Pool at Cemetery Junction.  Despite tooth and nail opposition to the Council from local residents, the pool closed in December.

However, the story isn’t over yet.  Before Christmas we raised £10,000 to prepare a business plan for a community take-over of Arthur Hill Pool.  We’ve set up a community interest company to run the baths and have now put together a plan for running the pool.  The Council will make a decision on whether or not to accept our proposal at a meeting at the Council Offices on Monday 10th April.

We need your help for the meeting on 10th April.  If our plan is to succeed, we will need not only the Council’s approval, but also their assistance and a promise to use windfall cash they will obtain from a new housing development near Cemetery Junction to repair the pool.  If we are to succeed in re-opening Arthur Hill Pool we will need your support in the following ways:

  • Please email your local councillors and ask them to support the community proposal to re-open the pool which will be discussed by the Policy Committee on 10th April.  You can find contact details for your councillors here.
  • Please join us at 6.00 pm on Monday 10th April at the Reading Borough Council Offices in Bridge Street (opposite House of Fraser) to demonstrate to local councillors that there is still strong support for re-opening Arthur Hill.
  • Please join the Arthur Hill – Save Our Swimming Community Interest Company as a member to show your support for our work and have your say in future decisions.

This is likely to be our last chance to re-open the pool – so let’s make the most of it.

Complete our market research survey and win £20!

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Fill in our web survey and enter our draw to win £20 cash!

We’re currently undertaking some market research to help us in preparing a business plan for the future of the pool and in making funding applications. If you’ve a couple of minutes to spare, please help us by completing the survey. We’ll enter you into a prize draw and you may win a cash prize of £20! Just click here to take the survey.

Arthur Hill SOS Community Interest Company AGM

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On Thursday 2 March, we held our first Annual General Meeting (AGM). We updated local residents on the progress we have made so far and presented Arthur Awards to all the people who have worked hard to try to save Arthur Hill pool and gym. We also held a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses.

We were very grateful and pleased to see how many people showed up – the room in the Warehouse was full to capacity and it was a great demonstration that the local community remains passionate about Arthur Hill pool and gym. Thanks to everyone who came – and thanks also to Mrs Kakar for providing the amazing curry!

Date for diary – Reading Borough Council will be making a decision about whether to accept our Community Bid on 10 April. Please make your views known by emailing Councillors, spreading the word and coming along to the meeting.

Progress so far
Chris Beales, the Chair of the Directors, updated local residents on the progress we have made so far. Despite Reading Council’s closure of the pool on 18 December, we still managed to raise over £10,000 – smashing our target. We successfully set up a new Community Interest Company (CIC), as agreed at the community meeting on 17 November 2016. We named the company ‘Arthur Hill Save Our Swimming (SOS)’ and appointed an initial Board of Directors. We’ve also created a business plan which we’ve submitted to Reading Council, set up a working group of 14 people and launched our new website.

The immediate aims of the new company are to keep Arthur Hill open at least until the new pool opens in Palmer Park; to work with Reading Council; to coordinate raising money for the pool; to establish a 3-5 year business plan and to promote swimming and sport in East Reading.

We’re busy recruiting new members – lifetime membership costs just £1 and will ensure the community is shaping and guiding the company. You can join by contacting us at  arthur.hill.pool@gmail.com

You can read the full AGM presentation, including details on our accounts, business plan and full company objectives, on the website under News and Documents – Progress Updates.

Arthur Awards
By the miracle of time travel, Alderman Arthur Hill was present at the meeting to award certificates to campaigners and prizes to lucky raffle winners. Full details of the award winners below.

Thanks to everyone who donated raffle prizes and to all the people who have worked so hard to support the campaign to save Arthur Hill pool and gym. Thanks also to Phil, aka Alderman Arthur Hill, and Peter who gave out the prizes.

Best pool attendant- Joint winners: all pool attendants including Steve, Danny, Omari, Luke, Aaron, Sam, Stu and casual workers

Best fitness instructors – Joint winners: all instructors including Amanda, Bob, Martin, Don

Best swimming teacher – Melanie Prendiville

Fastest circuit challenge (male) – Mick Brookner

Fastest circuit challenge (female) – Lena

Longest continuous centre user – Phil 

Young hero – Evan Herath, for arranging for St Johns School to organise a non-uniform day to raise funds for our appeal

Hardest working fundraisers – Joint winners: Ashley Middlewick, for organising 10k fun run and the Chislett family, who swam their combined ages in lengths of Arthur Hill Pool to raise funds

‘Early bird catches the worm’ award for early morning swimming – Richard Wilson

Community award for clubs using the pool – Reading Dolphins swimming club for swimmers with disabilities.

Most inspirational character – Mark Marten, for regular attendance and hard work in spinning and circuits

Special award for persistence – Roger Lightfoot, for persistent questions to Reading Borough Council and regular letters to the papers about the pool

Special award for catering and fine food – Tom Lake, for preparing a special Arthur Hill Pool cake for 105th birthday evening

Best Dry Swim Challenge video – Gerard Stewart

Booby prize – Reading Borough Council, for closing the pool 🙂

 

Last chance to re-open Arthur Hill Pool?

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Our last chance to re-open Arthur hill Pool

In September 2016 Reading Borough Council announced, out of the blue, that they would be closing Arthur Hill Swimming Pool at Cemetery Junction. Despite tooth and nail opposition to the Council from local residents, the pool closed in December.

However, the story isn’t over yet. Before Christmas we raised £10,000 to prepare a business plan for a community take-over of Arthur Hill Pool. We’ve set up a community interest company to run the baths and have now put together a plan for running the pool. The Council will make a decision on whether or not to accept our proposal at a meeting at the Council Offices on Monday 10th April.

We need your help for the meeting on 10th April. If our plan is to succeed, we will need not only the Council’s approval, but also their assistance and a promise to use windfall cash they will obtain from a new housing development near Cemetery Junction to repair the pool. If we are to succeed in re-opening Arthur Hill Pool we will need your support in the following ways:

– Please email your local councillors and ask them to support the community proposal to re-open the pool which will be discussed by the Policy Committee on 10th April. You can find contact details for your councillors at http://www.reading.gov.uk/councillorsbyward

– Please join us at 6.00 pm on Monday 10th April at the Reading Borough Council Offices in Bridge Street (opposite House of Fraser) to demonstrate to local councillors that there is still strong support for re-opening Arthur Hill.

– Please join the Arthur Hill – Save Our Swimming Community Interest Company as a member to show your support for our work and have your say in future decisions.

This is likely to be our last chance to re-open the pool – so let’s make the most of it.

Privacy Policy

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Arthur Hill – Save Our Swimming CIC is committed to protecting the privacy of all personal data that you provide to us, and we will treat this information as carefully as if it were our own. This privacy policy (and any documents referenced in it) explains how we use personal data that you provide to us. By providing us with personal data, through a membership application or in other ways, you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.

If at any time you’d like to change your information or how we communicate with you, please contact us at info@arthur-hill.co.uk.

We will only process your data to provide you with the benefits of membership, eg to communicate with you about our activities and company business, to organise and promote events, or for other legitimate interests of the company. We will not pass on any of your personal data to third parties. In the following circumstances, we share a limited amount of personal data with third parties related to Headlines’ activities:

–    sharing your name and email address with a company (MailChimp) whose mailing platform we use to send out our email communications.