New swimming pool for Soham nears fundraising target

THE group behind a fundraising campaign for a new swimming pool in Soham has revealed it is closing in on its target of �176,000.

After being condemned in 2010, the swimming pool at St Andrew’s School was closed, leaving the town’s primary schools without a pool and forcing pupils to travel into Ely to attend swimming lessons.

In response, the Soham Swimming Pool Association was formed between parents and officials at St Andrew’s and The Weatheralls School to raise funds for a new pool and reduce the increasing cost of transporting the children into the city.

This week, the association revealed it had managed to raise a whopping �153,000 towards the cost of the new pool so far, working tirelessly through 60 fundraising events over the last two years.

There is just a further �23,000 required to meet the costs of the planned pool and the association is appealing to local businesses and individuals to help them over the line before the end of the year.

Peter Palmer, chairman of the association, said: “The Soham community has worked tirelessly to fund our new pool and have already raised an astonishing amount of money.

“We very much hope that we can commence building before the end of the year and ensure we have a pool that all members of the community can be proud to use.”

Richard Liddington, head teacher of St Andrew’s, added “Part of our vision for the pool is to make it available for use by children, families and different community groups, outside school hours.”

For its final push, the association we have several events in place, but says it would very much appreciate any support local businesses or individual can offer.

For further details and news on the fundraising activities and updates for the pool,

go to www.sohamswimingpool.com or visit their Facebook page.