The pool has been a hive of activity this first week. It’s still too early to set a completion and pool opening date but we are happy with the progress made thus far!

Pool filtration contractors GRC Filtration have almost finished their specialist work in the plant room. Having removed  the old filter media and the corroded dividing wall from inside, the filter vessel was shot blasted, before being relined. Modern filter heads, which are much easier to maintain, together with new internal pipe work were concreted in. With 9 tonnes of new filter sand and the outside of the vessel given a fresh coat of paint, it is as good as new! 
The team of three lads from Newcastle then turned their hands to removing the old pumps and pipework including two calorifiers which we assume were from the original oil fired heating system. 

GRC Filtration
Old Filter Vessel
New lining and filter bed
Fill it up with Filter Sand
The new filter vessel
A very old calorifier

Dave and Ian from local firm Dr Heating and our friends at Gareth White Electrical Services were next in to conduct a survey of the building, inspecting the pipes and wiring. After many “Why has it been done like that?” and “Where does that go?” together with the odd “That shouldn’t do that!” both now have a good idea of what needs to do be done to get the building back to a safe standard with bright lights, warm and working showers and moreover an actual water supply! 
The guys have been so quick and nimble inspecting cable routing in the suspended ceiling and poking around under sinks, our roving photographer has missed them, but the evidence of their activity is with clean water only where it should be and being able to turn a light on.

Our other specialist firms attended a planning meeting with our main contractor SPE Water Treatment Ltd and have worked out a plan to work collaboratively and concurrently in order to get the necessary heavy and important tasks completed in an efficient way. From our standpoint we were able to impress on them our vision for Phase 1 and how we intend to run the pool when open and correct the important shortfalls in the previous offering, that we as customers were all too aware of. Our philosophy of “Do it right, do it once” is how we intend to proceed so we haven’t set any deadlines or targets. 

To those of you who have generously offered your time and energy for “The Big Help Out” on Sunday 7th June, thank you in advance. We have been putting together a list of tasks, nothing too strenuous for you to do. Mostly it’s giving the place its first sight of a duster in over two years! Also, there’s plenty of weeding and clearing of overgrown vegetation to be done. As you’ll see, parts of the building look like the “Marie Celeste” in that there are personal items, paperwork and keys left abandoned. So, if you did work at the pool before and now can’t find that thing you thought you had, it may well be where you left it!

Wedding needed
Overgrown!

The usual weekly meeting of the Trustees was for the first time held at the pool. An almost emotional event! After raising a glass (courtesy of SPE), we discussed initial staff recruitment, plans for internal alterations and further opportunities for funding applications. Whilst doing so, we had word from Sarah Hopewell, the East Herts District Council Executive member for Health and Wellbeing and long time friend of the Charity, that EHDC had agreed to make a substantial grant of £105,000 to the Charity! A pity I’d finished my glass by then! Our heartfelt thanks go to Cllr Ben Crystall, the leader of the Council, Cllr Sarah Hopewell and Cllr Vicky Glover-Ward who have supported us from the word go and played a not insignificant role in getting us this far, let alone in making this grant.   

Trustees meeting

More exciting things are planned for next week, so stay tuned!