Swimmers refuse to leave axed pool site

There was a steady stream of visitors of all ages to the condemned pool in Peartree Lane for its final day yesterday.

Some were fighting back tears as they walked up the stone entrance steps clutching their costumes and towels.

Many stopped to thank the pool staff for looking after them during their regular visits to their favourite baths.

Among those savouring their last swim earlier in the day were accounts clerk Julie Hickman, aged 46, and her daughters 14-year-old Laura and 10-year-old Emily, from Ribbesford Crescent, Coseley.

Mrs Hickman said: "I used to come here with my friends and my daughters have both been swimming her since they were six-months-old. It is an ideal pool for children to learn to swim and for the whole family to come swimming together.

"It will be missed by a lot of people and will make a big difference to people's lives in Coseley. It is a really sad day."

Retired maintenance worker John Davies, aged 68, from Kingswinford who had been going to the pool since Brierley Hill swimming baths suffered a similar fate four years ago.

"It is the only big pool in the borough, where you can do proper lengths without any interruption. I used to swim in Brierley Hill but then that pool closed. I will have to travel further to swim now," he said.

The baths will always be special for Pam Stone, from Church Road, Coseley, as she taught her four grandchildren to swim at the pool.

She said: "I can't believe they are really closing it. Why has it come to this? I have been swimming with my friends here for more than 25 years. It is such a shame and so sad."

Housewife Charlotte Ravat, aged 40, and six-year-old daughter Katie McKnight from Mervyn Road, Bradley, Bilston were enjoying their regular afternoon dip. She said: "We come here all the time and Katie learned to swim here. It's a great loss to us."

Father-of-three Richard Osbourne, aged 37, from Sedgley, took his his daughter Mollie, aged 13, and son Adam, aged nine, to the pool. He said: "They have been coming here since they were five or six and it's been a big part of their lives. It is very sad."

Pensioner Viv Summers, aged 67, from Woodsetton said: "The over 60s can now swim for free but there's no where for the them to go now. I have swam here for 40 years. It is a very sad day."

Retired steel worker Tom Hunter, aged 72, from Earl Street, Coseley, said: "I have been swimming here for 40 years three or four times a week. It will be a real loss to me as I have made a lot of friends here. I don't understand why they are closing the pool, is there any pool in Dudley where you can actually swim?"

Around 100 campaigners armed with "Save Our Baths" banners and placards held an all-day protest outside the pool in a last minute plea to Dudley Council to reverse their decision to close the baths.

Campaign leader Brian Guest, aged 65, of Elmwood Rise, Sedgley said he was pleased with turnout and vowed to continue the fight to save the building from the bulldozer. He was due to meet a solicitor today to get advice on legal moves to give the baths a stay execution. Mr Guest denied that swimmers who stayed in the pool after the official closing time had been causing trouble.

Dudley North MP Ian Austin, who has backed the campaign to save the baths, said: "It is a really sad day for Coseley. We are still calling for Dudley Council to reverse its decision and save the baths."

Dudley Council says the baths need £1 million of urgent repairs to make the roof safe, as well as a further £1 million spent to bring the building up to scratch.

Decommissioning work was scheduled to start today and run until September 11, when the building will be handed over to Dudley Council's corporate property department. Leisure chief Councillor David Stanley is keen for bulldozers to reduce the building to rubble as soon as possible.

The authority has yet to secure funds for the six-figure demolition bill, and the money may have to come from the public purse, chiefs have admitted.