In just 4 weeks of campaigning, for 4hrs every Saturday morning, the Friends of Queens have gained over 1000 physical signatures for our petition, opposing the the closure of our beloved pool.

The Council have stated the predominant reasons for this are that the building is unfit for purpose ( its still in use and they recently put a new roof on the familly pool) and they have found 50m to build a new Sports Village.( way over the other side of the city in a high crime and low income area) They have deliberately done the barest minimum of upkeep on the building, and run it into the ground, knowing they had the new Moorways Sports Village being built which would justify their decision.

Everyone who uses our Central Community pool, right now, are going to suffer the prospect of never being able to swim again. The new pool is so far away that, unless you have a car and the finances to cover such increased fuel usage and prices for the swim (as the Moorways pool is now under private management) it will be impossible for thousands of citizens of Derby to utilise this expensive venue.

For me, alone, if I could cope with the mental and physical trauma to use buses, the journey would take 3 buses to and fro and up to 4hrs to go for 1 swim. Until I got Covid19, I was swimming every day and my time away was a maximum of 2.5hrs. The cost would be nearly £25, per swim, as oppose to £23 a month for unlimited use. One can only guess what a familly of 3-4 will have to pay at the new pool with the private charges for swimming and parking.

The hardest hit will be the Disabled (mentally and physically) the elderly, those with Social Anxiety/Agoraphobia/Autism, Diabetes, weight control issues and famillies on low incomes whose children will probably never learn to swim. Especially when the Government stops School subsidies for swimming lessons.

Some of my friends at the pool have taken up to a year to slowly gain the confidence to cope with getting out of their houses and walking, or short bus ride to the pool.

There are many of us that have the pool as our ONLY form of excercise and Social interaction, myself included as I am Disabled and cannot do land based excercise. I am also Diabetic due to weight gain from my ailments. There are many elderly patrons who only get out to meet up, excercise and catch up with their friends. 

We all know that swimming is the best form of excercise for EVERYONE no matter your age, denomination, religion, sexual orientation, colour of your skin or gender and its for these reasons I consider the Council to be discriminatory and ableist with this decision to close our water community hub.

This closure will force patrons, who need these interactions for mental and physical wellbeing, to Social Service and NHS care that, quite frankly, will be slow to gain if at all.

I am fearful that lives will be lost.

We need to let our Council know that we are sick and tired of them running roughshod over us, removing everything that makes us a Community and from tearing down our historical architecture to build cheap, new buildings, instead of maintaining and renovating our heritage ones.

We are people, not sheeple, and its about time they listened to their voters voices instead of continually ignoring or trying to shut us up.

I am fearful that lives will be lost

Any of you reading this and thinking it has no concern of yours as your not from Derbyshire..it WILL happen to your local pool as the Government are closing pools up and down the country. Even if you have never used Queens Leisure Centre yourself think of us and the future generations to come.

Everyone deserves the right to save their own life.

Thank you for your time

 

Jo Wesson (friends of Queens)