Whistle blows on last swim in Trim

The closure of Trim"s swimming pool last Friday after 33 years marked the end of an era for staff members and thousands of Meath people who have learned to swim there. The Meath County Council-run pool was closed after the whistle blew on the last swimming session last Friday evening. The 17 staff members, who are mostly part-time, have either taken voluntary redundancy or moved to one of the four redeployed positions that were offered in the new Aura Leisure-run facility which will shortly replace the almost 40-year-old pool. It was a sad occasion for staff members as the pool closed for the last time as many staff members had worked there for up to 20 years. It is understood that some of the staff are hoping to work in the new swimming and leisure centre when it opens. A committee was formed in 1971 by local people who wanted to get a swimming pool for the Trim community and the committee was chaired by Gerry Brady. The swimming pool was built at a cost of £80,000 and was opened by the then Minister for Local Government, Jimmy Tully. Austin Sharkey had been County Manager at the time. Cllr Phil Cantwell said they would have been lucky to get one pool in the county at the time but that Jimmy Tully had been a driving force and Meath ended up getting new pools in Trim, Navan and Kells. He said it was sad and emotional to see the pool close for the last time and that 'it was not fair for the people who put in such an effort to get the pool for it to lose its community pool status'. Cllr Cantwell added it was the 'end of an era'. He said the pool had been paid for by the council and had never meant to be profit-making and was for the 'good of the people'. He said the staff had trained thousands of young people to swim and also provided facilities for children, disabled people, Special Olympics training and life-saving skills. Meanwhile, Trim"s new leisure centre and swimming pool complex on the Newhaggard Road is due to open within the next two weeks. A date has not yet been finalised for the opening and staff training is ongoing at the facility. The new state-of-the-art centre has a 25m pool, toddler pool, gym, meeting room and two astro-turf playing pitches. The facility will be operated by Aura, which already runs the Leisure Link pool facility in Navan.