A swimming pool celebrating it’s 40th anniversary will open for the summer on Sunday.

Salcombe Swimming Pool will be re-opening on Sunday, May 20 not only to mark the start of the summer season, but to celebrate it’s 40th anniversary.

The pool will be opening from 2pm to 6pm on Sunday, and there will be a raffle, a BBQ, and of course, tea. Everyone swims at the members rate on the first day.

When the pool officially opened in May 1978, it was merely “a hole in the ground with a couple wooden sheds,” built solely by local volunteers. Dug from the ground by hand, the project took quite a while, as the locals volunteered their time after work and on weekends to come and assist in the build.

Additions to the pool were made in stages, the first being the brick wall around it, where residents bought each brick themselves and placed it on the wall. Then the mens’ and womens’ changing rooms were built, followed by the heating of the pool, with the last addition being the foyer for food and drink.

Diane (Mary) Tobin, Trustee said: “It was and still is, a real community effort. When it first opened, it was merely a hole in the ground with a couple of wooden sheds, it was very low-key.”

To this day, it is still a very family-oriented pool, and is still run solely by devoted volunteers.

Diane commends her son, Peter Tobin, Chair of the committee, who “works so hard, pouring his heart and soul into the project daily. He works in Plymouth and drives to Salcombe every night to check on the lifeguard and the pool to make sure everything’s running smoothly.”

If you’d like to volunteer to help keep the pool running, please call 07746 248187. Volunteers will receive free family swims in exchange for their efforts.