Search for 'Angel donor' to save historic lido
BBCAn open air swimming pool that has "reached the end of its life" faces an uncertain future unless an "angel donor" is found to put £5m towards its refurbishment.
Stratford Park Lido in Gloucestershire has been open for almost a century, but after years of use the pool's lining, as well as the pump, valves and pipework are now beyond repair.
The facility will not open this summer and could remain closed indefinitely, Stroud District Council has warned.
Councillor Martin Brown, chair of the community services and licensing committee, made it clear the expense is not something the council can cover, but remains "hopeful someone will step forward" or help fundraise it.
Stratford Park Lido was built at a cost of £20,000 in 1937 on land acquired by the district council in 1935.
It uses natural spring water pumped on-site that was heated before its boiler was removed during World War II and melted down to provide metal for the war effort.
While most modern swimming pools have two pumps, in case one breaks down, Stroud Lido also has just one 90-year-old pump filling two filtration tanks that need replacing.
Museum in the Park, Stroud
Around the edge of the pool underground pipework is fracturing and need replacing.
"There's a serious risk that the pipes could cause a major leak," said Brown.
"Then we'd have tens of thousands of gallons of chlorinated water flooding out into the park, into the leisure centre and across the road into Tesco."
Museum in the Park, StroudThe council's head of community services, Angela Gillingham, said: "We've done years of maintenance on the whole lido, but now it has reached the end of its life."
She went on to explain how any potential repair work is complicated by its Grade II listed diving board tower listed as 'of special interest' by Historic England.
"We will do everything we can to find either an Angel donor or a community group that will fundraise," Brown added.
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