THERE are few greater pleasures on a hot day than paddling in cool water. But Reading residents hoping they’d be able to do just that in Christchurch Meadows were disappointed as the plug was pulled.
With the Indian summer seeing the hottest temperatures of the year, many parents were hopeful they would be able to take their children to the open-air facility to take advantage while the sun shined.
This year is the first that the pool, which dates back nearly 100 years, has been operated by the council’s leisure partners GLL. It opened during a heatwave over the late May bank holiday weekend, and was scheduled to shut on Sunday, September 3.
And that’s exactly what happened.
While Woodley Town Council kept their Woodford Park pool open for another week, Reading kept to the plan and drained theirs.
This disappointed Green party councillor David McElroy, who drew attention to the padlocked pool in a tweet shared on the social media platform still known as Twitter.
“28°C all week and @ReadingCouncil decides to drain the pool in Christchurch Meadows today,” the Redlands councillor wrote.
He was disappointed the council kept to the timescale rather than letting the fun in the sun continue for another week.
“I saw lots of sad little faces. You’d expect the council to have a back-up plan in case there’s some late season sun, it’s not that complicated,” he told Reading Today.
“Given the heatwave it’s pretty risky to remove one of the few safe options for free swimming in Reading, especially while the Royal Berks Fire and Rescue still feels the need to warn kids about the dangers of swimming in the Thames, which is hazardous enough considering the sewage…”
A council spokesperson said: “While we appreciate the unseasonably warm weather means people might expect the pool to be open, our leisure partner GLL are contracted to operate the paddling pool between May 27 and September 4, when the summer holidays are over and majority of schools return.
“The pool will re-open as normal in May 2024.”
