More than 120 people flocked to Saltcoats Town Hall to see designs unveiled for the town’s new outdoor pool.
And people gave their whole-hearted backing to the scheme which is set to see the iconic 1930s facility revamped for the 2020s.
Organiser Irene Campbell, of the Splash Group, said: “People overwhelmingly loved the idea and it was a good attendance. There were a lot of questions. There were queues to get in. and that was fantastic.”
Architect Chris Romer-Lee gave a talk on outdoor swimming and also the work he is doing with Peckham Lido in London and projects in Australia.
Irene added: "Chris said it was very visionary of the council to have such a design in 1933 and how it looked like something from the Cote d'Azur. But he explained how package holidays killed it.
“When he unveiled his sketches, there were audible gasps from the audience. There was a wonderful reception to his work and his thoughts on how the pool will look. We are in the process of starting to consider funding streams.
“Phase one would cost £500,000 to get the pool cleaned out and have the structure erected.
“Phase two would be to do with changing cabins if we were to go down that route and somewhere to store kayaks.
“Over the coming weeks, we will have a meeting with the council about taking it forward. We have had some meetings on some funding streams, we will see what happens.
“We have been talking to the council from the start of our plans. North Ayrshire Council said at the start of this project they were happy to look at us doing this. We had £20,000 awarded by them for a feasibility study through the place-based investment programme.
"If we get all the funding this year, work could start next April. It would take three or four months to do. If everything goes to plan, it could be up and running by next July or August. A lot of young people have been asking me about it, open paddle boarding.
“One of the outdoor swimming women who was at the meeting said they might use it to do lessons for people to let them learn outdoor swimming.”
The Splash Group was also given £25,000 from North Ayrshire Council's place-based investment programme to allow a feasibility study of Saltcoats Harbour to be carried out by Mr Romer-Lee.
A further meeting regarding the project is planned later in the year.
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