Submission to Council

The sky is blue, the weather warm, but why oh why is our pool forlorn???

As long term residents and users of the Oakleigh Pool, we call on council to support the refurbishment of the Oakleigh 50m pool and diving pool. It doesn’t have to be state of the art—the rough concrete paving is fine—nothing feels better under bare feet on a warm day. But to have a heated 50m pool that locals don’t have to travel to the other site of the municipality to get to, where bathers (and rec centre users) can do a few laps in, and adventurous youngsters can experience the awesome challenge of the diving tower, is surely not asking to much.

Oakleigh Pool has been shamefully neglected and underused, but potentially offers much to the residents and the community. It used to be a focal point for families who wanted to grab a picnic tea after a warm day and meet up with their friends and neighbours, or whose kids wanted to go off and ‘hang’ around with their friends in a safe but ‘cool’ environment. Do we go to MARC for this now? No Way.

And let’s not forget some ‘good ideas’ to promote the pool. Firstly sound advertising and decent signage. Why not have pool side cinema over the summer months (and watch the fruit bats on the horizon), or open air concerts with some of the wonderful array of local musical talent around?

Oakleigh Pool is quite unique. Please do not let this irreplacable community facility slip from our fingers. It would be a terrible loss.

Gill Read and Mick Robertson

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