Community / Thirty three years of swimming at Scalloway Pool to come to an end
The pool will be closed after the last session tonight, although campaigners are still hopeful a solution could be found for reopening in the future
IT IS almost 33 years to the day since hundreds of folk flocked to the newly built Scalloway swimming pool for its opening, amid major excitement in the village.
But today (Tuesday) the final lengths will be swum and the last bairns will splash as operator Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT) closes the pool to create what it says will be a more sustainable operating model across its network of leisure centres.
While campaigners continue to hope that a solution can still be found to re-open the pool in the future, as staff prepare to move to the Clickimin, for now, this is it.
Since the SRT announced its decision in mid-January to close the pool in an effort to maintain its wider financial sustainability, there has been much disappointment, debate and discussion – underpinned by a petition which gained nearly 5,000 signatures.
The SRT said it will maintain the fabric and fittings of the building to allow for consideration of continued use in the future, but as things stand today marks an end to almost 33 years of the pool in Scalloway.
SRT trustees said in a statement that they wished to place on record their “sincere thanks to all past and present staff for their professionalism, commitment, and care over more than three decades”.
“Their efforts ensured the pool remained a safe, welcoming, and well-run environment for everyone who used it,” they added.
“The trust also thanks the many customers and community organisations who supported the pool over the last 33 years.”
It was back on Sunday 4 April 1993 when the pool first opened its doors to the public.
An advert promoting the opening day said the new pool complex was “designed and built to very high standards, and we know that you will enjoy the many sports and leisure facilities and the opportunities these will create”.
“Just look what’s in it for you”, the advert continued: citing the main pool, a toddlers’ pool, a whirlpool, a steam room and – something that was lost over time – a solarium with sun bed equipment.
It was reported that more than 800 people attended the opening day as a huge buzz took over the village and surrounding areas.
“It was certainly a big day in the village when that pool was opened,” reflects Sonia Inkster. “They were absolutely delighted.”
Behind the pool’s creation, and those dotted elsewhere around Shetland, was a vision from the council to create leisure centres in rural areas, as near as possible to the seven junior secondary schools.
Inkster was a community worker at the time, and she was involved in supporting an action group that was formed to identify land and funding.
As she speaks to Shetland News she hands over a copy of a policy document created by the council’s leisure and recreation department in the 1980s.
This outlined the plan to roll out leisure facilities – backed by money from oil fund reserves via what would become known as Shetland Charitable Trust – across the mainland as well as the isles, with leisure and recreation director John Nicolson at the helm.
“Me and the chairman of the action group, Richard Saunders, went up to the local farmer Jim Smith, Jim o’ Berry, and negotiated the land,” Inkster recalled.
“He was wanting a fair price for the land, and leisure and recreation was wanting to pay a fair price for the land.”
She added that the “beauty” of how Scalloway Pool was set up was that there were conversations between the community and the SRT.
“It was conversations about what would you like this pool to be, how would you like it used, what special activities do you want – it was super,” she said.
It was a big change for the bairns in particular, as prior to the pool opening, “we used to bus 60 kids into Lerwick to learn to swim”, Inkster added.
Yvonne Clark, who has spearheaded the campaign to keep the pool open over recent months, said she was “delighted” that the pool opened up in Scalloway in 1993.
She was pictured on an SRT report at the time holding her daughter Hannah up in the pool, smiles aplenty.
The former PE teacher has a long history with the Scalloway pool, from undertaking lifeguard training there to doing relief work.
Clark also led an aquacise class there, and taught bairns on a Friday after-school club.
“I also broke my ankle,” she added, “and I spent months doing rehab work in the pool.
“It really benefitted me, and the staff couldn’t have been kinder or more supportive.”
Her children learnt to swim there, as “countless other bairns have”.
“Just because I’ve always been near the pool or in the pool, I just see the benefits for the whole community,” Clark said.
“It’s massive, for health and wellbeing. I feel it’s such a sad day for us that the SRT has decided to close it. But we want it reopened.”
Former SIC leisure and recreation director Nicolson passed away in 2019, but his widow Peggy said his legacy was one of equity and collaboration.
“John’s vision was routed in a deep sense of fairness and he believed that every bairn should have the opportunity to learn to swim,” she said.
“He possessed a remarkable ability to bring folk together around the table to foster thoughtful, respectful discussions.”
She added that she “sincerely hopes” that this can be achieved again following the approval of a motion at last week’s Shetland Islands Council meeting on the local authority’s partnership with the SRT.
Meanwhile Joanne Sutherland, who grew up in Scalloway, said “it wasn’t just a building – it was a cornerstone of our community”.
She said it was a “safe, welcoming place where we made memories, leaned important life skills and stayed active”.
With her own boys learning to swim there, she said removing access to regular lessons would “put children at a disadvantage and weaken our community as a whole”.
With the school Easter holidays now underway lessons have already come to an end at Scalloway, with the final curtain call taking place tonight.
“It’s a very sad day, because they’re closing the pool,” Clark said.
“But we’re hoping it’s just a temporary closure and that the three main organisations [SRT, SIC and Shetland Chartable Trust], with the community council, come together to find a sustainable solution to the problem, and that the voices of nearly 5,000-plus are listened to.”
But perhaps the last word should go to the small Scalloway pool staff team, who posted on Facebook at the weekend about its final couple of days.
“Thank you for being part of our journey,” the post said. “Let’s make these final swims special.
“Scalloway Pool will always be part of our community.”
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