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Latrobe beats the heat at its Outdoor Pools

Hundreds flocked to Council’s three outdoor pools on Thursday as the mercury climbed.

By Latrobe City Council - 12th January 2001 - Back to News

Hundreds of families and children from across the Latrobe Valley flocked to Council’s three outdoor pools on Thursday as the mercury climbed once again to thirty-eight degrees.

Latrobe City Mayor, Councillor Tony Hanning, said with projected temperatures of thirty-six and forty degrees for the coming weekend, record attendances could be expected.

At 2.30pm, Moe Pool Supervisor, Leanne Bowman, said that already more than six-hundred people had sought refuge from the heat and had passed through the turnstiles.

“A lot more people have been attracted to the Moe Pool a lot earlier this year, with significant attendances even before Christmas,” Ms Bowman said.

The diving boards are certainly one of our main attractions, but visitors love the shade areas and comment that they’re really wonderful. The Winter maintenance on the grassed areas and the new trees are making Moe Pool a really attractive venue; and the new beach volleyball court is sure to be a winner,” Ms Bowman added.

At the Yallourn North Pool, the smallest of Council’s three outdoor pools, approximately one-hundred and fifty people were enjoying the cooler conditions in the water at 3.30pm.

Yallourn North Pool Supervisor, Marg Center, said a record crowd for the pool would be about two-hundred and fifty people, but with many families presently away on holiday, it would be the hot weather a little later on in the season when records were likely to be broken.

“One hundred and fifty is a good number though. Apart from the locals, lots of families travel from Glengarry and Toongabbie and even from Moe and Traralgon, because they love the family atmosphere our pool provides,” Ms Center said.

We have our twenty-five metre pool, our learn-to-swim pool and a toddlers pool, so families are well catered for. People also love the natural shade on the rise which borders three sides of the recreation area. Visitors can always find shade under a tree no matter what time of day it is,” Ms Center added.

Pool Lifeguard, Phillip Van Gaalen-Prentice, said he’d noticed many families came to Yallourn North to avoid potential crowds.

“With younger children it’s very easy for parents to keep an eye on them here as there are less people.” he explained.

“Generally the kids here are really well behaved and there are seldom any problems. Occasionally I have to give a couple of kids five-minutes time-out for running around the pool edge, but usually they’re so glad to get back in the pool, even after a short break, that their behaviour doesn’t become an issue again,” he added.

By 4.30pm more than six-hundred and sixty had flocked to the Traralgon Outdoor Pool, but Pool Supervisor, Peter Barrett said that number would probably reach eight-hundred by the end of the day.

“It’s not the record for this season, that was set on the Thursday before Christmas, but it’s a considerable crowd,” Mr Barrett said.

“The waterslide is one of our big attractions and since we reduced the cost of rides, there’s been a huge demand. I know people like the large garden area at Traralgon, and the shade areas are very popular.

“We’ve encouraged families to use the Traralgon Outdoor Pool, and have attracted them for instance, by not charging for under-fives in the toddlers pool, and that’s an incentive to make use of our facility,” Mr Barrett explained.

“There are also bombing and diving competitions held on hot days where we reward winners with free passes to the water-slide, which ensures keen competition. Further down the track as soon as school goes back, we plan to introduce water aerobics for the mums,” he added.

By 5pm, the promised cool change had not yet eventuated, and the decision was made to extend the opening time at all three pools to 7.30pm. “Our hours are very much determined by the weather, and on a hot day like this the demand will be there right up until closing time,” Mr Barrett said.

Councillor Hanning said Council had once again made a decision to open the three outdoor pools free of charge on Australia Day.

“This is an opportunity to everyone in Latrobe to enjoy three of the community’s best facilities absolutely free. Perhaps Australia Day is the perfect time for this to happen, as it is traditionally a time when many of us take time out to relax and reflect on the freedom and opportunities we are able to enjoy as Australians,” Cr Hanning said.


Media Enquiries:

Cr. Tony Hanning, Mayor, Latrobe City
tel. 0417 373 577

Cr. Brendan Jenkins, Deputy Mayor, Latrobe City
tel. 0417 374 590

Ms. Penny Holloway, Chief Executive Officer,
tel. 5173 1401 or 0417 557 103

Jeremy Bein, Public Relations and Communications Officer,
tel. 5173 1468

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: latrobecity@gippslander.com



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