July - September 2007
Earlier news
Events
The survey of users of Hilsea Lido comprised ten questions relating to various aspects of the Lido's main pool and suggested possible changes that might improve the main pool's viability in the future, if it is to have a future that is! It was devised by local author Jane Smith ("The Book Of Hilsea", "Nelson's Portsmouth"), one of a small group of Lido supporters who are currently working to find an alternative to the main pool being closed in 2009 (please note that the Lido's smaller Splash Pool and the Blue Lagoon café are NOT closing).
As well as the AboutMyAreaPO6 website, Portsmouth and Havant City Councils along with the Havant Asda hypermarket, the Tesco Extra hypermarket at North Harbour and also Wymering Manor all helped generously in the distribution of the questionnaires.
Well over four hundred questionnaires were completed and the public's enthusiasm for doing so is to be commended and their stated opinions respected. Their answers are currently being thoroughly analysed. A big thank you goes to everyone who kindly took the time and the trouble to complete a questionnaire.
There was also a further, final question that asked: "Any other comments you would like to make regarding the Lido?"
For very many, there certainly were! Here in full and strictly verbatim are all their replies to this wider question. Often touching and passionate, these clearly heartfelt comments indicate that a lot more work still needs to be done to convey the most fundamental facts of the matter to the public. Clearly, there are all too many misunderstandings about the Lido. Even if people completing the questionnaire were too often confused themselves about the endangered fate of the main pool and the much safer position of the rest of the Lido and surrounding area, their sometimes unavoidably repetitive pleas cry out here just how very important this corner of the city is to them, especially those living north of Fratton Bridge - and that's well north in many cases!
User' comments
Please take the time to read their comments below, however naive some may appear and, given the spontaneity of the moment when filling in a questionnaire, please excuse any of their mistakes, the grammar, any misunderstandings and so on but do please feel their heartfelt concern, their memories, their hopes, their love of and their passion for the Lido. They would certainly appear to be demanding that the main pool should indeed remain open and that it should be restored as part of a reborn Lido experience at Portsmouth for the 21stCentury and for the city's people and their generations to come.
Who is going to do that? Well, we do know now that it is definitely not going to be Portsmouth City Council. However, the Council has stated that it is prepared to consider applications from anyone else wishing to manage the continued opening of the main pool in a viable and responsible manner. So, here is a chance for members of the public, the Lido users and supporters themselves, to do it themselves - just as happens at the successful Lidos at Petersfield, Arundel and elsewhere!
Public meeting 24 October
If you want to help us save the Lido's main pool from closure by joining with us, and by being prepared to actually do something yourself, please initially attend the forthcoming public meeting 7pm -9pm at the Blue Lagoon at the Lido on Wednesday 24th October 2007 or contact Robin Kay tel: 02392 697 890. We are trying to organise some other opportunities to meet also so watch this space! Thank you.
Read user's' comments