Volunteers hail Winchelsea Pool’s imminent opening

WINCHELSEA’S $8.9 million new pool will open to the community from 10am tomorrow (Saturday, February 22), with free admission.

An official opening ceremony will be held on Thursday, February 27, and there will also be a free family fun day on March 2.

 Long-time former manager Lesley Berg refers to Winchelsea Pool as her baby, and is excited about its rebirth as a community asset.

She saw generations of locals come and go while managing the pool for the best part of 18 years from the late 1970s.

“I always think the pool is a hub of a community really because the whole family can go down and enjoy it, all at once,” she said.

“It’s a big asset to the town.”

The community-built Winchelsea pool provided summer fun for 60 years, until the end of its working life.

The redevelopment, fully funded by the Surf Coast Shire, includes new 25m and leisure pools with heated water, splash park, pavilion, shelters, landscaping, barbecue and plant room.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Ms Beg said.

She shared the manager role with the late Barb Holmes for several years.

She was taught Austswim and was a long-time community pool committee secretary-treasurer.

“We had lots of fun times, and at that stage we had a committee of management and had to raise the funds to run the pool so we had cabaret balls and all those sorts of things,” Ms Berg said..

“We would have a working bee to get the pool ready for the start of the season and have 35 volunteers there. It was terrific.”

Countless volunteer hours and immeasurable volunteer energy supported the upkeep of the grounds and buildings across decades, and tasks such as the annual emptying and cleaning of the pool.

Lions Club volunteers led fundraising and organising for building of the pool and accompanying assets.

Community stalwart Mick O’Mara was installed as an early president of the pool committee not long after having arrived in town as a teacher and been sent along to the annual meeting by his principal.

“They called for nominations for president and said ‘What about you Mick?’,” he said.

“I couldn’t think of any reason why not, so I became president for maybe eight years.”

He succeeded Jack Schroeter, who was also a mainstay with the Lions Club, and was eventually succeeded by Jack’s son Harry.

Mr O’Mara said the pool had proven an immeasurable asset for Winchelsea.

“There were very few pools in small country towns at that stage.

“It’s so great for kids and families, and I’m very much an advocate for teaching kids to swim as soon as you possibly can.

“It was one of the drivers in us shifting to Winchelsea all those years ago. When we drove around having a look at the town – ‘Oh, it’s got a pool!’.”

Both Ms Berg and Mr O”Mara will be among guests of honour at the official opening of the new pool on February 27.

Admission to the pool will be free from 10am tomorrow until the family day, which will be held on March 2 from 10am to 5pm.

For more information, head to surfcoast.vic.gov.au/WinchelseaPool