"It needs to reopen" Athletes and coaches launch Ponds Forge campaign outside Town Hall

Swimmers, water polo players and divers dressed in their team tracksuits and delivered their proposals to the local authority and members of parliament across the city.

Tom Owens, head coach at City of Sheffield Diving Club, said: “Ponds Forge is important to us as a city. It’s important because it brings in huge footfall every year and contributes massively to the economy but it’s also important because it’s a world renowned venue that should be the pride of the city and South Yorkshire.”

The campaign follows a decision by Sheffield City Trust (SCT), which manages the site, and Sheffield Council, which is SCT’s main funder, to reopen most of its dozen leisure facilities except Ponds Forge last month.

It was estimated Ponds Forge would not reopen until April 2021 in the ‘best case scenario’ and the clubs, which are among the best in the country, said they would not be able to survive until then.

The clubs are working together on the campaign. In their plans they said it will cost £90,000 per month to reopen it for athletes and they could cover £30,000 per month but will need £60,000 per month in support.

Mr Owens said it was a lot of money but an important investment for the city.

He said: “It is an investment that will be paid back in various ways: saving the athletes and future generations of athletes, protecting heritage and the kudos that comes with having an Olympian at every games for at least the past 20 years, safeguarding the short-term future of Ponds Forge by preventing vandalism and break-ins and it will keep people working at Sheffield City Trust and our clubs.

“The other point is many of the events that make Ponds Forge viable are contributed to hugely by our members and volunteers who help run those events. So I think there is a big question mark over whether Ponds Forge would attract the same level of events it did pre Covid if it came back in a world without the clubs.

“What need is there for Olympic swimming and diving pools without clubs that are trying to produce Olympic athletes? Even if Ponds Forge does find a way to survive from a monetary perspective at what point do we call into question what Ponds Forge is doing if the clubs aren’t there?

“This investment, which is a significant amount of money, seems like a sensible investment to ensure its survival."

There are around 1,400 competitive members based at Ponds Forge across seven clubs. Between the teams, they have trained at least one Olympic athlete at every games for the past two decades, with clubs based there since the venue opened in 1991.

Pippa Jones, chair and coach at City of Sheffield Water Polo Club, said: “The feeling among the three clubs, and we are not being dramatic, is that we cannot survive until April and Ponds Forge will lose its main users and it takes a long time to build that up again. It’s taken 30 years, since it opened, for us to get to where we are now.”

Anna Motley, of the water polo club, has been playing the sport for five or six years and said: “It’s absolutely awful because that’s my life. I spend most of my time there and train there all the time, compete there and without it I have nothing to do and it’s hard to keep motivation when you don’t have a facility like Ponds Forge. It needs to open.”

Sheffield Council said it would provide up to £15 million to support the reopening of SCT's leisure facilities this financial year, which is £10 million more than it originally budgeted for. But it said it was unable to provide more funding to reopen Ponds Forge in its current format.

To support the campaign, follow Save Ponds Forge on Instagram and Twitter and sign up on this link https://www.landpage.co/savepondsforge. Those signed up will be sent more information on how to help later this week.