People from across Bristol came together to try to keep a historic swimming pool open - and swam an astonishing 138 miles to do it.
The community in Knowle took over their local pool - the Jubilee Pool - after the city council said it would have to close otherwise, and now the volunteers who run it have to raise money to keep it going.
Faced with spiralling energy bills, the group had to raise another £30,000 by the end of January - and did it just in the nick of time with an astonishing 24-hour swimathon in the last weekend of the month.
Read next: Jubilee Pool at risk again after £200K increase to energy bills
There was at least one person - often dozens - in the water swimming lengths of the pool for 24 hours non-stop, and one man returned six times to get involved. Tom Colebrook lives in St George and said he ‘defected’ from his local pool in Easton to come to the Jubilee Pool in Knowle because he fell in love with the community spirit there.
Mr Colebrook swam an astonishing 780 lengths over the 24 hours in six spells in the water - that’s a total of 10⅔ miles. “The support and praise for my achievement was humbling,” he said.
“Not one moment was a chore and I never felt up against it. I got my ‘golden steam paddles’ fired up and off I went. I am convinced the future is bright - in fact the future is ‘jubilicious’,” the swimmer said. Tom’s contribution of more than ten miles helped the total get past 138 miles, with a total of £13,500 - and counting - flooding in in sponsorship money.
The event was opened by international champion swimmer Alex Edwards, who started off with two lengths of front crawl and butterfly. A group of parents and kids from Hillcrest Primary School in Totterdown got involved - three mums and six kids who all got sponsored. “We had such a good time – despite the chaos of six mixed ability under 12s swimming in one lane,” said one mum, Iona Keen. “They collectively swam 414 lengths and raised a whopping £512,” she added.
In the middle of the night - at 3am precisely - just one volunteer had signed up to swim, with local swimmer Emma Poppleton completing 100 lengths on her own, accompanied by well-wishers singing Celine Dion’s All By Myself.
But perhaps the most remarkable story of the weekend was Mervyn Lavender, who last swam in the pool in 1957, when he was just ten years old. Now, 66 years later, he heard about the appeal and decided to return.
“He rallied his mates down the pub, secured loads of sponsors and completed the hour’s swim,” said Jubilee Pool spokesperson Rachel Heaton. “Mervyn enjoyed the experience so much that he’s now become a regular swimmer at the Jubilee Pool.
“We would like to thank all our Jubilee-vers who swam, volunteered and most of all threw money into the pot. We are continuing to fundraise towards our Winter Energy Appeal and are grateful for any donations,” she added.
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