Community pool closes due to funding struggles

Volunteers tried to raise £500,000 to save the community pool in Billinghay
- Published
A community swimming pool will not reopen next year after its committee failed to raise enough money to cover repairs.
Volunteers hoped to raise £500,000 to save Billinghay and District Community Pool, in Lincolnshire, which closed in March needing vital repairs.
But its committee has announced not enough funds were raised and the facility will be handed back to Lincolnshire County Council.
Lindsay Gardner, chair of the pool, said: "There are a number of people, too many to list, that are now heartbroken and devastated at the fact that this facility is gone."
The heated pool was built in 1972 by villagers from Billinghay and usually opens from May to September each year.
'So many hurdles'
Ms Gardner told BBC Radio Lincolnshire: "It was built by the community for the community. The community has kept it going for all these years.
"At this year's AGM, we as the committee stepped down and unfortunately no new committee was elected to take it forward because of the difficulties that we faced."
The 53-year-old pool needs new tiles and concrete, which "look on the surface to be simple repairs" but are more complicated, Ms Gardner said.
She said the committee has "worked tirelessly", contacting MPs, the government, organisations, and even DIY SOS.
"There's literally no stone that has not been turned over to try and find some way of helping but... it's bigger than us and requires a lot more work than unfortunately people are able to offer," she said.
Ms Gardner added: "There are just so many hurdles that unfortunately as a charity-run facility, we don't have the money in the pot."
She said the facility, which was on lease from the council, will be handed back and added that she "couldn't answer" what will happen next.
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