Swimming pool is making a splash

DINNINGTON’S new swimming pool is already so busy that it will be opening seven days a week to keep up with demand.

The Aquafyn Swimming and Training Centre, on the Brooklands Park Industrial Estate, offers swimming lessons to local children and adults.

The company was granted planning permission to extend its opening times by half an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening from Monday to Friday, and to open on Sundays by Rotherham Council’s planning committee last week.

The centre will now open from 7am-10pm Monday to Friday and 10am-4pm on Sundays. The opening hours on Saturdays remain unchanged.

A previous application to both extend the opening hours and allow the pool to open to the general public was refused earlier this year - something that not all councillors on the planning committee were happy about.

Aquafyn’s Sara Pegden told the committee the company had been ‘extremely overwhelmed’ by the support for the pool since it opened back in April.

“Over 750 children attend every week and we currently have a waiting list with 100 names on,” she said.

“The pool is also used by disability groups and local primary schools. We have also been working with Surestart and Go For It to help single mums and low income families to make use of the facilities.”

She said the extended opening hours would allow the pool to offer even more classes and training, as well as enabling more local people to take advantage of the service.

Dinnington councillor Simon Tweed said the pool was a ‘fantastic facility’ for the town.

He added: “The amount of children that are already benefitting from it is fantastic and I fully support this application to extend the hours.”

“This is what has been needed in Dinnington for a very long time. It is a great thing for the area and it is just a pity there aren’t more of them.”

“It is also a pity that we can’t get it open to the general public, but that’s another fight that I will keep chipping away at.”

The application was granted after a unanimous vote in support from the committee.

For more information about what’s on offer at The Aquafyn Swimming and Training Centre visit www.swimstarsanddolphins.com, call 01909 550680 or email info@swimstarsanddolphinscom