Community / Canoe club looking at winter training options after pool closure
THE SHETLAND Canoe Club is assessing its options for future indoor winter sessions after the closure of the Scalloway swimming pool.
The club used the pool over the winter on a weekly basis, but the building closed at the end of March.
Chairperson Rachel Shucksmith said the cost of the main pool at the Clickimin would be too much for the club for weekly winter sessions.
She also said there are questions over travel distances for some of its members if the canoe club used another pool, such as Sandwick.
“Like most in the community we’re very sad the pool has shut,” Shucksmith said.
“It’s been a great asset to us as a club. We’ve been using the pool this winter on a weekly basis for canoe polo and skill improvement for our members.
“Being relatively central it’s a good location for our members who are spread across Shetland.”
She said the club’s beginners’ training will still be run in the Clickimin, “but the cost of the larger pool is too much for weekly sessions over the winter”.
“While we are looking at the other rural pools, asking members from Northmavine to travel to Sandwick or those from Dunrossness to travel to Brae just doesn’t work,” Shucksmith said.
“Also with the Scalloway pool shutting we are concerned that it’ll be very difficult to get pool time at the other pools.”
The pool in Scalloway had its final day on 31 March as operator Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT) closed the facility in a bid to become more financially sustainable.
A petition opposing its closure amassed nearly 5,000 signatures.
Fencing has now been erected around the perimeter to maintain the security of the building, the SRT said. Security cameras had been installed prior to the pool’s closure.
SRT-run swimming lessons at Scalloway are moving to the Clickimin, with the Lerwick facility issuing an expanded timetable in recently
This sees swimming lessons starting earlier in the day than they previously did.
Wednesdays will be the busiest day, where there stands to be lessons from 10am to 5.15pm, with a break between 1pm and 3.30pm.
Some parents on social media however criticised the placing of the pre-school classes, with no sessions held later than 3.15pm.
Parents were advised that times of classes may be subject to change in the next block of classes.
There will also be ASN swimming lessons on Friday afternoons.
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