Go West

Last weeks Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh branch) visit took us outside of Edinburgh (P.)Leisure's stable of pools to Wester Hailes Education Centre - a leisure pool run by, wait for it, City of Edinburgh Council! Crikey! Below is that report in full!:

WHEC

And if you thought last week's destination was far out, then check this:

This Sunday (26th Feb) the Society - at least those spirited enough to travel over the County Line - will convene at the Dunbar Pool in East Lothian at 10.30 am!

It seems as though our appetite for leisure pool pursuits has been well and truly re-whetted!

New Members, as always,  welcome!

It ain't half hot, mum

Expectations were high prior to last week's Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society visit to Ainslie Park - at last a non Victorian pool - surely our municipalist forebears would not tolerate the draughts and cold blasts that our Victorian citizens positively revelled in?! Read on to find out...

This week, in line with the development of a community bid, the Society feels its time to look outwith the Edinburgh Leisure portfolio - we will be visiting Wester Hailes Education Centre, which is run by an independent body... 10.30 on Sunday morn as usual!
ainslie pk 2

From the West to the East

Oh dear me, indeed!

With all the excitement of having to go and present in front of the heidie and full staff last week, The Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh branch) omitted to post Dalry's report card from our visit the weekend before.  Dalry might have thought she'd got away with it, and indeed preferred it that way - however I'm afraid the truth will always out... The full report card is as follows...

dalry

Meanwhile, the following weekend, a bumper turnout of the Society made the trip along the Forth to Portobello Baths.  This weekend, the Society is making the leap from the 1890's to the 1970's with a visit to the all-new Ainslie Park Leisure Centre! As usual, all welcome - photo at front at 10.30am on Sunday morning...  Porty's full report card is as follows:

porty

SOB story

The Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh Branch) continues to gather apace.  This Sunday the Society will be marking our third week in existance with a brave foray across town to... Dalry Baths!  We have set the time at a later 10.30am to allow for members wrestling with the bus timetables and the potential lag as the bus negiotates this weeks route...

As always, all welcome!  Photo at the front at 10.30am...

Dalry Baths faced the axe from Edinburgh Leisure in 2010, but with a spirited campaign entitled SOB (Save our Baths) the local cmmunity gathered thousands of signatures in opposition and saved the pool!  Lots of useful info on their website.  Well done all!...

In an interesting footnote - the public petition was handed in by Labour MSP, Sarah Boyack.  The Council refused to accept it, instead pointing Ms Boyack to Edinburgh Leisure - amazingly Ms Boyack accepted this chicanery...

In the meantime here's Glenogle's report card from last week - full pdf is available here

The Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh Branch) will this week, be visiting the recently refurbished Glenogle Baths in Stockbridge, which according to Edinburgh Leisure's website is "something of a rare breed - a hark back to Victorian baths, but with a modern twist."

Glenogle was the subject of a well supported community campaign, which put pressure on the Council to refurbish the baths as originally promised.  Whilst it came out that plans were being mooted the the pool could be 'redeveloped', the energy and commitment of the campaigners ensured that the baths were kept as a public amenity.  Following a £5.7 million refurbishment, the pool re-opened in July 2010.

The Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh Branch) is open to everyone - just come along at 10am on Sunday 22 January morning for a photo at the frontdoor! The shy and latesleeping are welcome to join us after...

Going for gold

Full report is available here as a downloadable PDF

Fit for purpose?

Questions regarding Edinburgh Leisure are being asked in today's Scotsman; which featured a letter penned by a member of the Splashback campaign, in response to David Bellak, a pensioner concerned with Edinburgh Leisure's price rises:



Dear Editor

DAVID Bellak’s letter regarding the 33 per cent increase in price rises for pensioners using Edinburgh Leisure’s (EL) facilities (14 January) highlights a worrying trend in sports provision in the capital city. 

Crèche facilities at leisure centres have been withdrawn. Last spring, Edinburgh Leisure axed free swimming for primary-aged children. 

Since April 2010, Edinburgh schools no longer use EL services. Why? Last weekend Leith Waterworld, Edinburgh’s only leisure pool, closed because the savings would contribute to the bailout of the £7 million over-budget refurbishment of Royal Commonwealth Pool (RCP).
In doing so, Edinburgh Leisure disregarded one of the requirements of its funding agreement with the council to undertake an equalities assessment into how any closure might affect certain user groups, in Leith Waterworld’s case specifically the under-fives, children attending on their own and the disabled...

More... 




More media on the campaign to save Leith Waterworld in the last couple of days:

The Edinburgh Evening News reported on the inauguration of the Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh Branch) in its Monday 16 Jan edition:

CAMPAIGNERS who battled against the closure of Leith Waterworld are planning to tour other pools en masse to inspect their facilities.

Waterworld closed its doors to the public on Sunday, but now the families who led the fight to keep it open have formed themselves into the Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh).  From this weekend, campaign members will get together each Sunday to visit a pool to undertake a “swim inspection” before reporting their findings to the city council.

More...



And STV reported on the formal complaint made to City of Edinburgh Council...

The campaign group Splashback has lodged a lengthy complaint about the conduct of Councillors while deciding the fate of Leith Waterworld which the group had hoped to save.

On Thursday, December 22 Splashback made a deputation to the City of Edinburgh Council at a Full Council meeting in a bid to prevent the leisure facility closing earlier this month.  The deputation failed to save LWW and the pool closed its doors on January 8.  Campaigners were “unhappy” with what they viewed as the “wrong decision” but were additionally disappointed by the behaviour of some Councillors present and as such Splashback submitted a complaint letter with eight specific objections.

More...

Launch of the Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh Branch)

Splashback! has the pleasure of inviting you to the inauguration of the Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh Branch) this weekend, (Sunday 15 January)

Since we have been made homeless last weekend, we will now be taking up the opportunity of visiting other swimming pools in the Edinburgh environs each Sunday morning for a swim.  We will be monitoring the additional time required to travel, the temperature of the pool, the friendliness of reception from staff and swimmers, the number of inflatables in the pool, the variance in fun ratio etc...

Do come and join us! - all welcome, young and old - this weekend we will be diving into the( icy!) waters of Leith Victoria, from 10am...