People across Portishead have been flocking to support the Pound for the Pool campaign to raise cash to save the open air lido.

Members of the Save The-open Air Pool (STOP) campaign, backed by the Evening Post, are appealing to people in Portishead and the surrounding area to give just a £1 to help get the seafront attraction open this year.

Collection tins and posters have been sent out to shops in the town so that people can make a donation.

STOP campaigners have set up a charitable trust – The Portishead Pool Community Trust – in an attempt to take over the 1960s lido from North Somerset Council and run it as a not for profit organisation.

North Somerset Council is currently in talks with the trust about the option of it taking over the pool and a final decision on its future is expected within the next few weeks.

The trust launched the Pound for the Pool campaign to raise around £20,000 to secure the pool can open this season.

STOP campaign leader, Roger Whitfield, said: "The response to the appeal in just a few days has been amazing. I have even been stopped in the street by some people who have handed over £1.

"One lady said she would be giving £1 for everyone in the household and would be donating £5 to the appeal.

"I have also had people coming into my shop and putting money into the collection box.

"The population of Portishead is currently around 22,000 so if every man, woman and child donated just £1 it would help us raise the money we need.

"We need the people of Portishead and the surrounding area to get behind us to help us raise these funds to show the council we, and the people of Portishead and the surrounding area, are deadly serious about our plans to get the pool open this summer."

Local traders across the town have also backed the appeal, putting collection boxes on their counters for people to pop their pounds in.

Mark O'Hare, who has run Mark's Barbers at West Hill for eight years, is a keen supporter of the campaign and has a collection box in his shop.

Mark, a dad of two, said: "I fully support the Pound for the Pool campaign. I have lived in Portishead all my life and my family and I have always used the pool and it would be a real shame to see it go.

"I am more than happy to have a collection box and will be asking all of my customers to dig deep and help support the fundraising appeal."

North Somerset Council chiefs made a recommendation to close the pool earlier this year, claiming it cost £130,000 a year to run and it was subsidising each swim by more than £14.

But a special panel tasked with the job of scrutinising the recommendation said council leaders should consider the option of the attraction being run by a trust.

Local businesses stepped forward following the news the pool was under threat, with some offering to install solar panels and others pledging to refurbish the changing rooms.

Collection boxes bearing the STOP campaign logo are being be delivered to various shops across the town. The boxes will be at Nortech Computers, Larsens Cafe, Morgan Westley, Mark's Barbers at West Hill and at other stores along the High Street.

Anyone wanting to make a donation can also send a cheque or postal order made payable to Portishead Pool Community Trust, to Nortech Computers, 10 High Street, Portishead, BS20 6EW.

If the council rejects the option of placing the pool in the hands of a trust and decides to close the lido, any money collected will be donated to other community projects in Portishead.