NEWS

DAVID LLOYD POOL REVOLUTION

The revolutionary new £300,000 pool enclosure at the David Lloyd Club will be opened on Monday December 10th by the Ringwood Mayor, Brian Terry and the son of David Lloyd, Scott Lloyd. The David Lloyd Aqua Club are giving a demonstration, as are a group of synchronised swimmers. After the midday opening the pool will be available for members.

The pool enclosure promises to be the first of its kind in Britain. A state of the art, technically innovative, energy saving, and architecturally impressive enclosure surrounding the David Lloyd open air pool.

The pool used to be covered in the winter by a draughty, blustery, tent. The wind whipped around the canvas causing it to flap noisily and creating cold currents of air for the shivering swimmers. That will now be a thing of the past when the enclosure is assembled and the Mayor and Scott Lloyd formally open the new pool.

The pool cover is an awesome construction. A huge, glazed, arched dome some 20 feet high, 113 feet long and 57 feet wide. The old tent method of covering the pool used to take several days to erect and take down. The new, fully retractable, pool enclosure can be in place in a matter of 20 minutes, so that with a summer like the one this year, swimmers at David Lloyd can be encased in a warm, weather proof dome in a matter of minutes. When the sun comes out, the dome will slide back and it will be an open air swimming pool again.

The enclosure is entirely manual so not subject to mechanical glitches; it is also expected to reduce the energy used by 40%. Said David Lloyd Manager Ian Edmunds "It is truly amazing. This really is a green pool, on a sunny day, we will be using no energy at all to heat the pool, the rest of the time the heating bills will be minimal. The polycarbonate glazing also protects people, children in particular, from the harmful ultra violet rays. David Lloyd members will have a Christmas present of a warm, peaceful swimming environment in beautiful elegant surroundings."

The swimming pool enclosure is part of a £1.3million refit at David Lloyd which includes new lockers, gym equipment, tennis courts, flood lighting and refurbished badminton courts. The pool enclosure is the first of its kind in Britain, imported from France by an Oxford company called Lanzare Co Ltd.

John Crane the managing director said "This is the future of swimming pool enclosures. It has been in use in France, Italy and America for large camp sites, but there is nothing quite like this in Britain. It takes two men just a few minutes to put up. Only about four feet of the pool is permanently covered at one end, the other end is a fixed archway where the glass panels can be removed. The sides slide up into the roof, the walls roll back on tram lines. The UV protection in the glazing is proving very popular with schools as children can swim safely without needing any sun block. "

From Belinda Charlton BCA Marketing and Public Relations 01425 473813