Swimming pools & swimmers

As Trevor got further into his retirement he very kindly helped me along my path in swimming teaching/coaching. He entrusted his starting pistols to me which I have passed on to the City of Coventry Club. They are far better fixed to look after them than me. Trevor Thomas was a wonderful man who knew huge amounts about swimming and it was a privilege to work with him.

Thank you Annewiggy so pleased it has bought nice memories back for you with your dad knowing him

Brief mention was made of Ernesford Grange Comprehensive School earlier in the thread - the new Ernesford Grange/Sidney Stringer Academy is currently being built on the site of the old all-weather pitch here. It is due to open in 2015, presumably the entire school and sports block (partially rebuilt after the 1984 fire) will be demolished including the swimming pool, seemingly with no replacement. The site of the original school will be landscaped with a new access road built further up Princethorpe Way, slightly closer to Bruntingthorpe Way.

The title of this photograph should be 'Boys from South Street School at Priory Baths'. There never was a pool at the school.

Hi Foxy, I wonder what year that 'Boys from South Street School at Priory Baths' was taken. He was a very strong swimmer in his day and to think he gained his ability at the Priory Baths. They all looked like young lean beans in those days.

Hi all Swimming pools were a discussion item on local wireless this morning, as another Coventry school in Ernesford Grange, threatens to close its pool.

How short sighted to close school swimming pools. My school (KHVIII) never had its own pool when I was there and so we had to use the public baths. Consequently most boys never had a swimming lesson at school at all. I have fond memories of the pool at Ernesford Grange. We used to play basketball there on Friday nights and would often take a refreshing dip in there after the matches. The supervisor would kindly leave the door unlocked for us so we had the pool to ourselves.

Having read through the information provided the decision to replace a 50m pool with two 25m doesn't make sense. It doesn't fit in with any of the objectives/aims set out - it's like the decision has been made completely independently of the assessment. Also, once again the public consultation is nothing more than lip service. It basically asks if you agree, partly agree or disagree with the aims and objectives, which as stated seem perfectly reasonable. But nowhere does it give you the opportunity to disagree with the plan to meet those aims and objectives, which is surely the main point. It's like being asked "Do you agree we should try to grow the economy and create jobs", to which you have to really say yes, but the plan for that is to invest in producing videos/Betamax, which would be ludicrous, but isn't part of the question asked. Also it says "partly agree" which has to also mean "partly disagree". In fact you could partly agree with a very small amount, but predominantly disagree with it. Having done these before though, I know for a fact that those that tick that box will be assumed to be largely in favour and lumped in with "agree", and thus the council will show a large swell of favourable opinion for their plans when that isn't necessarily the case. Yes, there are comments boxes, but these are largely ignored as they aren't easily quantifiable. They mention one or two at the end of any analysis but ultimately focus almost solely on the statistics.

I agree. Part of the information does seem to veer towards using school facilities out of hours as the community facilities, which I think is a very good idea. It means less facilities are required overall, allowing for better overall facilities used more efficiently and a greater choice of sports on the extra land. It also sorts out the problem of where facilities need to be built due to population density etc, as schools tend to be built where there is high population. The main idea is that the facilities/grounds would be run by the Sports Trust rather than the school, which would allow both to concentrate on their core competencies, with schools focusing on education rather than groundskeeping/facilities management. Obviously protection for sites would need to be considered to prevent the trust selling off sites (maybe headmasters/mistresses being given power of veto over sales?), ensuring grass pitches aren't overused and most importantly great care would need to be taken over security as it would be heavily used by children during the day and would be next to school sites.

Petition Selection Page A petition has been started ~ you know what to do.

It has been announced this morning that a new 50m pool is being 'considered' following a swell of public support. I'll believe it when I hear it, but if you were 'thinking' about signing the petition (link in above post) then maybe now is the time to do it!

Have read it. Now let's hope it comes to fruition.

Coventry Swimming baths being built footage

Yes I remember" it was always freezing lol