Our Crowdfunder campaign to raise funds to repair the pool tiles and expansion joints is now live and you can help us get the pool filled with water once again! A big thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. Now that the county council have offered us the freehold of the site, which is a great step forward meaning WFCPG will become the owners of the pool, momentum is increasing! Funds pledged from East Herts District Council should sort out the filtration system, but we need another £30,000 to be able to repair the broken pool tiles and replace the expansion joints. The great news is that through Crowdfunder we have been awarded match funding by Sport England so we only need to raise half that amount.

We raise £15,000 and Sport England will contribute the other £15,000 to get the tiles repaired!

Sport England is the public body working to make sure everyone has the opportunity to become physically active, funded by the National Lottery and Government. Once we have 25 unique supporters and 25% of the overall target (£7,500) the Sport England contribution will appear on our Crowdfunder campaign page. We do then need to reach the full target for the Sport England funding to be paid. We are confident we can achieve this. With a gentle launch on Facebook the campaign has raised almost £2000 from 72 supporters in just two weeks and received some lovely comments:

I have swum over those tiles for 50 years! Let’s get them fixed for everyone to swim over!

Wendy Horton

An essential part of growing up is learning to swim so well done to all involved in getting the pool open again

Robert Walker

Well done and keep going important asset for Buntingford

Brenda & Peter Ansell

Small steps forward to help create a healthier future [for the] residents in the Buntingford area

Philip Wylie

We are about to email our 903 pool supporters to ask them to make a donation and leaflets will be dropping through the doors of 5000 homes in Buntingford and the surrounding villages in 2 weeks time. So we anticipate the donations flooding in! If you haven’t yet donated or want to see the latest support and total, please click this link.

Any amount you can spare will help and as my 11 year old said, “£15,000? Easy. All we need is a thousand people to give £15.” You can’t fault the maths and it is true! A small amount given by many people really will get us over the line and enable the extra £15,000 Sport England funding to become available. Please don’t forget to tick the gift aid box if you’re a UK taxpayer as your donation is increased by 25%!

Those of us who swim or have swum (because we haven’t got a pool to go to at the moment!) know the benefits it can bring, but what if you don’t? Why should you support our campaign?

  • you may have children or grandchildren at school locally who are missing out on this essential life saving skill
  • you may be slowing down or lacking the ability to get about as freely as before – swimming provides non load bearing exercise which promotes well being
  • You may be considering a new hobby, possibly near the water, angling for example! What would happen if your newly acquired waders were to slip on the bank and you fell in?
  • who knows what fun you could have sailing, water skiing, aqua parks, boating holidays, rowing, synchronised swimming, but you just need to have a little bit of water confidence first!

We’ll have embarrassment free lessons for the later starter as well as for the kids! Triathalon is gaining in popularity, everyone can run (some just faster than others), most can ride a bike, but the event starts with a swim! You wouldn’t want to miss out!

Playing your part in reopening Ward Freman by starting with the tile repairs will bring benefits to the town for years to come in terms of health, reduced isolation and recreation. Did you know that when the approved housing developments in Buntingford take place, the developers have an obligation to make a financial contribution to the local area? There are hundreds of thousands of pounds at stake which will go to Grange Paddocks swimming pool in Bishop Stortford if Ward Freman remains closed.
Don’t let this happen. Donate today and help get the pool open!