Pupils have designs on saving Portishead's open-air pool

PUPILS at a Portishead school have been drawing up exciting designs for how the town's open-air pool could be transformed.

As part of the Save The Open-air Pool (STOP) campaign, which is backed by the Evening Post, pupils at Gordano School were asked to enter a competition to come up with some designs on how the pool could be improved.

More than 70 pupils got involved with the project, submitting exciting ideas, such as plunge pools, a retractable roof and even a cocktail bar for the seafront attraction.

Others said they would like to see a play pool, a new cafe with a balcony looking over the pool, solar panels installed to generate power to reduce running costs and refurbished changing rooms.

Some pupils wanted water slides, water fountains and deckchairs and sun loungers for visitors.

Tyler Baber, 14, of Portishead, wanted to see a laned pool, a separate main pool and a balcony on top of a refurbished cafe which overlooked the water.

Tyler said: "I would really like to see some of these improvements implemented.

"It would make the pool a far more exciting place for people to use."

Sam Herbert, 14, of Portishead, said she wanted an adventure-style water park included at the pool.

Sam said: "I came up with the idea of the Kracken's Teeth Water Park, so those who don't necessarily want to swim, especially young children, could have some fun with water.

"I would also like to see a baby pool, water slides and a cocktail bar.

"The pool definitely needs some investment and upgrading, as it is somewhere that the young people of Portishead enjoy going."

Sixth-former Ella Gibson, 16, put together a computer-generated design, which included some environmentally friendly features.

She said: "I have featured a rainwater storage feature so water collected can be recycled. I go to the pool in the summer and I hope that some of the ideas from our designs will be used to improve the pool."

George Butter, 16, suggested installing hot tubs, plants and sculptures in his design.

The sixth-former said: "The pool is a bit bland at the moment and some foliage and sculpture would really brighten it up."

Ellen Rye, 14, came up with a design that included a retractable roof, so the pool could be used in bad weather, and a hard cover to go over the pool at night.

Ellen said: "The pool could be used for so much more than just swimming.

"If we had a hard cover over the water at night, the pool could be turned into an open-air theatre, which would be fantastic."

Kelly Cowling, 14, included solar panels in her design to reduce the energy costs at the pool.

She also wanted to see more green areas around the pool where people could relax and sunbathe. Kelly said: "I go to the pool in the summer and I would go more if there were better facilities."

Gordano School design and technology teacher Syreeta Collier said she was impressed with the pupils' ideas.

Mrs Collier said: "We gave the students a really open brief and, as a result, they have come up with some fantastic ideas and designs for the pool.

"The students feel very passionately about the pool because it is a great local facility. The young people do not have many facilities in Portishead and the pool is an amenity which many of them enjoy in the summer."

Gordano School head teacher Graham Silverthorne said: "The children care enough about the pool to do something like this in the hope it will have an impact.

"A lot of thought and time has gone into these designs.

"The pool is a fantastic community resource.

"There are not many facilities for our young people in the town and to take away one of the main attractions of the summer would be ridiculous."

The designs are to be handed to the council's scrutiny panel working group, which has been tasked with the job of scrutinising a report recommending closure of the pool, ahead of its meeting on Monday.