The Return of Penketh Pool.

Tomorrow marks the start of a return to operations for Penketh Pool, operated by your Penketh Parish Council. We’re thrilled that we will once again have hundreds of our residents returning to either vital Swimming lessons or Health and Wellbeing classes and sessions soon. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have been involved in helping us get to this point, including our Independent Parish Councillors, who volunteer their time to achieve so much for the community in many ways, as well as our staff members and the public in allowing us the time and space to re-invigorate our facilities and bring them up to expected standards.

As communicated previously, this will be a phased approach to re-opening to allow for the relevant checks and balances to be undertaken to secure a safe return.

In September we published our proposed term time Timetable which will form the basis of our future operations. Our price list will also be published shortly, once we have a confirmed date of public swim sessions returning.

I just wanted to talk a little about the setup of the centre, and address some historical confusion about how we operate and the changes you’re likely to see moving forwards:

We have a number of organisations and groups who hire our pool from us, mainly in times that are not commercially viable for the council to operate or that require specialist areas of expertise and Knowledge, broken down as follows.

Parish Council Owned Services.

Penketh Parish Swim – This includes Council run, in house Swimming lessons at peak times as well as supporting local Schools to complete their curriculum requirements. Once we return to full capacity, we will reach 7 days operation.

General Public Swim – The Council have already committed to providing ample time to members of the public for general swimming, as well as lane swimming in the morning before work and family fun and adult lane swimming as well as Ladies only and parent and child sessions. This also includes spaces for Party Hire with council provided Lifeguards.

AquaFit *new for 2022 - Penketh Parish Council are aiming to bring this back in house as it was previously being run by a private individual no longer returning. The Times available include two morning sessions and one evening slot, with resumption to be confirmed in due course

Private organisations:

Waterbabies – These classes are a private enterprise, they specialise in teaching parents to teach their babies to swim, getting children used to the sensation of water and develop their natural instincts to transform these into core aquatic skills. Ages 0 – 5 can have Waterbabies lessons

Penketh Swimming Club Est 1974 – This club has been in existence since the Pool was built in Penketh in the 1970’s. The club is run via a committee of volunteers. These Volunteers have often been PSC members themselves from a young age and developed to becoming coaches and lifeguards which in turn, helps the Parish Council recruit locally for teachers and lifeguards. The sessions are operated three nights a week after work times between 7pm – 9:30pm and allow for essential water skills for our community as well as reducing the financial burden on parents allowing quality affordable lessons but later in the evenings.  Ages 5 – 16

Puddle Penguins – A private hirer of the pool at weekends which provide Swimming Lessons to children ages 4 onwards

Past hirers no longer returning:

Sharks Swimming Club – A private hirer of the pool who ran swimming lessons but are not returning to the pool following the sad passing of the operator.

Warrington West Snorkellers Club – This club offered Water safety and skills training to be able to progress to diving. Sadly, following the pandemic and subsequent closure of Penketh Pool the group no longer felt the club could return due to the retirement of the team responsible.

Aquafit – See above for more information.

What’s happened so far at Penketh Pool

Penketh Swimming Club Est 1974 have already conducted Swimming Club assessments, to allow them to monitor Swimmer’s abilities and needs, with many children having not been swimming since our closure back in March 2020 or having an inconsistent record with other providers. PSC will be returning from the week of the 7th November as they gradually build back up their Club.

Waterbabies are back from Tomorrow morning, Monday the 7th of November. They will also have an additional Sunday afternoon session available to customers moving forwards.

Next Steps

Penketh Parish Council will be Contacting its previous Swimming Lessons customers, many who had refunds after the Pool Closure, to confirm if they want to return or not. Once this is completed, we will be contacting anyone on our waiting lists before moving to add new members to the queue. As this involves contact with up to 170 members, I’m sure you can appreciate this is a big task for us, and one we know will generate a lot of queries and contacts. Please bear with us while we complete this process and be assured that with the increased capacity we will be generating, we can accommodate all our previous users and more going forwards.

If you have previously been with a private enterprise using Penketh Pool, you will need to contact them directly for more information.

As mentioned above, public swimming is not yet available but will be returning soon once we have re-trained our staff and completed all relevant checks, so keep an eye out for further communication and the publishing of our price list shortly. We will be Cashless when we return, with the options of returning with a monthly discounted membership or the ability to pay as you go by purchasing a wristband. *Further details to follow.

Our Community Hall has remained open and holds sessions from regular private hirers who offer things such as, Dog Training classes, Tumble Tots, Taekwondo, Karate, Zumba, Pilates, Kids football as well as Badminton hire and Party Bookings. For any booking enquires please contact the existing groups directly or email leisure@penkethparishcouncil.org.uk to enquire about future usage.

For any questions, please contact clerk@penkethparishcouncil.org.uk or speak to one of your local representatives for more information, details of which can be found on the website at penkethparishcouncil.org.uk.

Thank you and see you soon

Cllr Michael Potts

Chairman – Penketh Parish Council.