THE Nangwarry Pool will officially reopen next month after a two-year fight by the Save the Nangwarry Pool Committee to save the community asset from demolition.
The highly-anticipated pool refurbishment is in its final stages in preparation for its November 1 soft opening and November 10 launch day.
Wattle Range Council announced plans to demolish the site in 2016 but was met with widespread community backlash.
Although the committee successfully saved it from destruction, it was then tasked with restoring the recreation site to its former glory.
After an extensive fundraising campaign which included a $150,000 contribution from council, contracted work and volunteer working bees, the pool is now ready for action.
Campaign leader Florence Thomson said she was overwhelmed with the support the pool had received.
“We have more than 1000 people on Facebook supporting us,” she said.
“Everyone has memories of the pool from when they were growing up so they’re all excited for it to reopen.”
The committee strongly believes the pool is an important part of the community, even going as far as examining the thousands of dollars parents would spend each year transporting their children to other towns in the region to use a pool.
Committee member Sally Work said the beauty of the Nangwarry pool is that children can simply walk there each day.
“The pool is probably only 500m from their homes,” she said.
“Kids can just walk down or ride their bikes and it’s so much easier than their parents having to drive them elsewhere.
“Not all families have the luxury of owning to vehicles, without the pool a lot of children would have missed out on spending time in the water during summer.”
With the opening day now announced, local school’s have already jumped on board to book future swimming lessons.
“Nangwarry Primary School has booked out a block next year for students to have their swimming lessons,” Ms Thomson said.
“Another school in the area is also making plans to do so, so it’s already proving to be popular and it’s not even open yet.
“A learn to swim facility is not only important for the children but also for adults in the area who now have somewhere to learn.”
Council chief executive officer Ben Gower said the local government body was excited for the official opening day.
“It’s going to be a big event for Nangwarry and the broader community and we’re proud to be supporting it,” he said.
“We do believe it is an important asset for the community which is why we allocated the funds to help with redevelopment.”
Opening day celebrations will include a sausage sizzle at the newly-installed BBQ area.
The committee hopes the event will be well attended, inviting people across the South East to inspect the improvements.
“We know bringing it back was really popular so we’re hoping everyone will take advantage of the redeveloped facility for years to come,” Ms Thomson said.
