Diving in for pool (From Swindon Advertiser)

Diving in for pool

7:40am Monday 25th May 2009 in Search

THAMESDOWN Hydrotherapy Pool has another £1,000 to add to its fundraising coffers after a sponsored swim by dedicated supporter Pat Broderick.

The 42-year-old donned his swimming trunks to swim 100 lengths before 9am on Saturday.

The pool, next to Crowdys Hill School in Jefferies Avenue, Stratton, needs around £120,000 a year to stay open, most of which is gathered from medical contracts.

But around £30,000 per year must be obtained through fundraising alone.

“And thanks to Pat we now only need £29,000,” said pool manager Paul Charlwood. “He really is a service before self kind of guy and he’s very important to us. He’s just done so much for us over the years. He was there at 8am on Saturday waiting for me to open up. We’re very lucky to have someone like him care about us so much.”

Pat, from Ruskin Avenue in Upper Stratton, hopes to also run this year’s Swindon Half Marathon for the Hydrotherapy Pool.

He said: “It’s a very important service for the people in Swindon and I think it’s important it stays open.

“I’m just doing my bit and I think, when the money’s in, my bit will be more than a thousand pounds.”

The pool is one of just a handful of public hydrotherapy pools in the country, with the next closest being in Cornwall. It receives between 600 and 700 uses each week and last year had 30,000 users – it’s come a long way for a service that many said wouldn’t be needed.

“In 1979 the pool cost £120,000 to build,” said Mr Charlwood. “Now it costs that much to run every year. It’s people like Pat that make reaching that amount that little bit easier and we’re very grateful for that.”

Pool users are normally referred by their GP or hospital specialists to use the pool as part of rehabilitative treatment or treatment for chronic disorders. It can be a short-term use for getting over injuries from a car crash to people who have spina bifida who will require it from cradle to grave,” Mr Charlwood said.