Our Story.

It has been over forty-four years since the pool first welcomed the people of Topsham.

But many people who will visit this year will not realise that the pool is not a council-run amenity, but was founded by the people of Topsham and was the result of years of fundraising. It is run as a charity.

Tucked away in the centre of the town, Topsham Pool was the result of a huge fundraising effort, first by a small group of tireless and determined individuals and then by the whole community. During the 1970s huge mountains of waste paper were stockpiled and sold, and thousands of glass bottles were collected and returned. Countless jumble sales, carnival floats and many generous donations gradually pushed up the total. A Sports Council grant topped up the fund and in 1979, after several setbacks, lots of work and laughs, a decade of fundraising culminated in the grand opening. Olympic gold medallist David Wilkie did the honours and officially opened the pool and even swam a few lengths.

Topsham Pool has always been run by a committee of volunteers and in 1979, while jubilant that it was finally finished, the committee had already begun to worry about bringing in enough money to keep it open!

Last year there were more than 50 volunteer receptionists. A total of 1080 swimming lessons on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in addition to schools who hire the pool in the morning. There were more than 4600 swims at the 6-8.30am lane swimming club, 140 attendees at aqua aerobics, over 20,000 swims in the public daytime sessions, and a really popular cold-water swimming session from September to December attracting many new swimmers. There was a large inflatable obstacle course on Saturday mornings, and many children's parties at weekends.

The pool plant room needs major refurbishment, and we would like to make more use of solar power to keep the water pumps running. We need your help to raise the funds required.

Here are links to the history of Topsham Pool in pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CePFZfH41g21jD7o7

The Plant room https://photos.app.goo.gl/KkP29oxRaJmjz5fG9

Cold Water Swimming https://photos.app.goo.gl/tDUQgJbSX2GXJwFt9

Recent pool photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/KgVQUhub6HjwAGnF6

Your support is massively appreciated.

You can donate by using this link: https://checkout.justgiving.com/7sk0yaoao8

or by using this QR code:

Update of fundraising April 2024

If we include money raised from the Ceilidh, and the money raised via Giving Checkout, and the Gift Aid amount so far, then our total is now over £4000. Fantastic. Thanks to all those who have helped us so far. Special thanks for the £200 donation in memory of Terry Whiting.

Also thanks to Andrew Hattersley for a very generous donation.