Freedom Leisure (FL) has demonstrated a complete lack of transparency and calous treatment to both staff and customers in Rye about a decision that must have been made by their board long before it was made public here. For a company whose tagline is ‘Where You Matter’ Rye News condemns this company’s total disregard for the most vulnerable in our community for whom our pool is a lifeline.
FL’s ghoulish CEO, Ivan ‘The Terrible’ Horsfall Turner, came to Rye on Monday to reissue a warning to his staff not to talk to the BBC who came to interview him. Angry swimmers voiced their complaints to camera. One woman sobbed during her interview after saying goodbye to her ‘Aqua lot’ after 16 years of regular attendance. A mother felt ‘utterly deflated’ after her son’s last swimming lesson. They both write about their experiences on the Save Our Pool Facebook page.
One popular FL swimming teacher was offered an increase in pay to stay with FL two days before he then learned via Facebook that the pool would close a few weeks later. Some staff members were offered different jobs in Ashford or Bexhill, or different hours in Rye, and in some cases, fewer hours and less pay. All staff had only two weeks’ notice to respond to this closure.
A few FL staff broke their silence to tell me about some of the many regular swimmers who they care about and are worried about what will happen to them…..
The elderly ‘Mermaids’ in their 70s and 80s who arrive on their mobility scooters..grateful for the ramp enabling them to get into the water.
The young children from 13 different local primary schools who learn to swim and to be safer in water for the rest of their lives?
The grandchildren who look forward to swimming with grandparents in half terms and holidays?
The Sunday Group, a mix of all ages who gather together every Sunday morning for life-giving social as well as physical and mental reasons.
The 15-year-old boy with autism whose only exercise is swimming because he ‘feels safe’ with his friends in The Sunday Group.
The disabled girl who comes early every day before school to have a swim.
The diabetic man who has been swimming every day since last May to lower his cholesterol and lose weight after a heart attack.
The blind man and his wife who glide through the water like a pair of swans.
The list is endless.
Can an independent consortium of civic-minded supporters in Rye come together to find a solution here?
The company hired by FL to provide a service to teach children and adults to swim and water safety have built an excellent reputation in the community in Rye over 14 years. Can ways be found to work with them to keep the pool open for the people who most need it this winter?
Image Credits: Susan Benn .
Maybe the necessary savings could be made through management cuts ( like replacing the CEO of FL)?
That should be the case anyway because of the reduction in workload on FL’s management through closures.
Dear RN,
A decision by Freedom Leisure to close the pool “must have been made long before the public knew about it”. I suspect the devil is in the detail.
Presumably there is/was a clause in the FL contract that commits the company to providing a public service. So why wasn’t it made public in a timely manner? What constituted that commitment?
Without the detail, it’s so much more difficult for the public to know how to make an effective challenge or engage on finding solutions to this short sighted decision.
The detrimental domino effect of the pool closure includes job losses, community fracture, and negative mental and physical health impact – the results will be felt in other already stretched to the limit services within the community.
The public now hears central government messaging for a healthier lifestyle (one recent poll says that 9 out of 10 people know that a healthy diet is important for reducing a raft of life threatening health conditions)…it is cynical and incredible that the policies to support local pools and healthy living initiatives are so disjointed and seemingly lacking.
For further reading, I found these articles interesting:
https://www.ukactive.com/news/government-must-change-its-muddled-approach-to-physical-activity-policy/
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/111116/html/
There is plenty more evidence on the web.
Well done RN for making a headline of this issue, I hope that a campaign to bring the pool back from the brink is fruitful. As you clearly illustrate, many many people’s health depends on it.