Swimming Pool and new Gym

[alachlan]

This is what I was thinking but not ideal for the slightly more casual user, and the point of principle that the council facilities should offer better value for money. I will not state my opinion on the matter but it does lend a lot of credence to JAGS when they are accused of not offering any facilities to local residents. Here they provide a better pool which is cheaper if you are willing to sign up for ongoing membership.

[James Barber]

Hi mrure,

If you find this please do always ask what the pool temperature is. Collectively we had some effort to get the temperature raised. If its too hot it could be lowered saving lots of money but would'nt wantto go back to it beign too cold!

But knowing the temperature means I can do something about it if necessary.

[mrure]

Will do. Thanks, James

[clarinet]

Why can't you get a swim only membership? Why do I have to pay for a full membership if I have a medical condition that means swimming is the only exercise that I can do? Seems a bit unfair that everybody pays the same fee regardless of what fees people actually want to access.

[kennethw]

The swimming only membership was put in place when certain centres (Camberwell and Dulwich) were still under refurbishment, apparently. I asked about it last week.

I got it last year and it's been great value for money.

Have you written to Fusion about this? Let them know your situation, if enough people do this they might see there's a demand for it.

[beauty@home]

I think the pool is much better warm - the one at peckham is freezing so I always use the hydro pool instead

[Peckhamrye]

I have always assumed the water is warmer on sunny/hot days because the pool has a glass roof, sun shines in, warms water....?

[clarinet]

I did write to fusion but they couldn't give me a good reason why it was no longer available. I've lived in the area for over 15 years and had a swim membership about 12 years ago which I upgraded to full gym about 4 years ago. Funny that now they've had the 'refurbishments' done, you can't get the swim membership anymore. Seems like a money swindling exercise to me rather than offering different packages depending on people's needs and abilities. Like I said, a total rip off.

[James Barber]

It costs an adult Southwark resident ?50.10 per annum for a Leisure Access Card. With such a card each of peak Swim costs(6.30am-4pm) ?2.00 per session or ?2.40 each peak session to swim as opposed to the non Leisure Access Card rate of ?4.00 & ?4.30 respectively.

The old swim only membership was ?24pcm totalling ?288 a year.

So having a leisure acces card means you could go swimming roughly (50:50 peak vs. off peak) 108 times before spending more than the old swim only monthly pass - or fractionally over twice week or two and a quarter times if only off peak. That doesn't seem too bad unless you swim 3 or more times a week...

[Loz ED]

I used the new pool for the first time last week and was impressed with the facility in general. It was 8am and busy (which is nice to see). The only issue with the splitting of the pool into lanes is that people seem to be in totally the wrong lane for their speed which makes a decent swim impossible. Could there not be some sort of supervision of this to make the lanes flow better?

[James Barber]

Hi Loz ED,

Sounds a reasonable request and everyone should get a better swim. I'll ask.

Regards james

[mrure]

I had the same problem recently with a very fast swimmer in the slow lane.

[Diescu]

I agree about the lanes - it's very difficult, especially when some people (quite reasonably I guess) stand around in the slow lane, forcing the people that are slow but want a proper swim, into the medium lane, which in turn forces the medium-speed swimmers into the fast lane. The problem seems to be worse in the women's only session; I'm afraid I ended up swimming in the fast lane myself last week when I didn't really have any business being there simply because it was so frustrating in the medium lane (although to be fair the very speedy people could overtake). Once the AquaAerobics session started, though, taking over half the pool lengthways, the situation degenerated completely, creating what I can only describe as a very turbulent soup of mixed-ability swimmers, at which point I had to get out. I wonder if AquaAerobics doesn't really combine well with ordinary or women's only sessions, certainly not without substantially reducing the number of people in the pool. I totally agree with the above poster who suggested more active supervision of lanes.

[Cassius]

It's ok for the really slow and the really fast - it's the medium swimmers such as myself that find it a problem, or that they are part of the problem albeit unintentionally. If the pool is busy then I am fustrated in the slow lane, but feel concerned about holding people up in the medium lane. Also I really vary from stroke to stroke but don't want to keep swopping lanes.

[Loz ED]

Thanks James, it would be great if you could mention it.

[Frankito]

What about speed rwstrictions per lane? It seems to work well on the autobahns..

[kennethw]

The pool is big enough to accomodate 4 lanes rather than 3.

[Ladygooner]

Can I please ask those in charge to reduce the temperature in the pool? It was 30 degrees on Sunday morning - like stepping into a bath. Save yourselves some money!

[spongebob]

There was a sign on the reception desk today saying "the pool is 28 degrees, this is very cold" I pointed to it and was told something was broken but wasn't listening but thinking 28 degrees is not cold at all.

The poolside showers were also not working.

[Vickster]

Didn't see the sign, but went today about 11am and it was f***ing freezing. I was with my 3 year old and after 10 minutes his teeth were chattering so much we had to get out.

[Ladygooner]

The poolside showers rarely work. Good news about the lower temperature - let's hope it take them as long to fix the pool heating as it did the showers!

[spongebob]

28 again today, nice temperature!

[BundaberG]

I worked at DLC for nearly a year and left to study in egypt for my SCUBA diving IDC (Instructors Development Course).

DLC went through a huge renovation a lot of people on here don't seem to appreciate.

Did you ever use it before the renovation?

And yes, there were many problems with the showers etc... but these are expected if Southwark council stupidly rush the contractors and they can't make the necessary tweaks that are needed. I had many customers enquiring, complaining, requesting and all sorts about the pool temperature, lanes and swimming time tables. All at the same time everyone of my colleagues were doing there best to accommodate to the customers needs. Personally as someone who does swim a lot and is required to do so for the job, 28 degrees is an ideal temperature for swimming. Where I am now on the Red Sea the temperature is roughly 26 Celsius and I find that fairly comfortable in a 3mm wetsuit for diving NOT swimming. Understandable for the parents with young children and their complaints about pool temperatures, have you thought about buying your child a wetsuit? one that is a proper fit so it does its job and insulates the person wearing it as i saw a lot of parents putting their children in wetsuits too big for them, thus the suit doesn't insulate properly. as it saves a lot more money and energy keeping the pool temperature at 28 Celsius

[kennethw]

I was told by one of the staff at Camberwell that the swimming only membership is going to be re-instated later this month.

[spongebob]

Can we have some consistency as far as shower water temperature in the mens changing room, 85% of the time the shower control needs to be at maximum and then it's just above tepid but for the odd few times if the thermostat is on Max it'll scald you!..