Reading Borough Council is planning to close our much loved local swimming pool - the Arthur Hill memorial baths in Reading - but we're determined to keep it open!

To save Arthur Hill swimming pool we need to raise £10,000 (details below). Please donate whatever you can to help us.

This historic pool has been open for 105 years, and was a gift to the community from the family of a former Mayor of Reading, Arthur Hill, an enlightened and progressive councillor who did much to support local people.

The pool is very popular with local people, providing a range of sessions and classes for local school children, families, women only, and young people with disabilities. It's very much a community pool, and plays an important role in bringing people together locally - both socially and to take exercise.

The Council say that they don't have enough money to keep the pool open until 2020, when they hope to have built a new pool nearby. In the meantime, travel to other pools elsewhere in Reading will be time-consuming and difficult, especially for many local people who don't own cars.

We're determined to keep the pool open and are setting up a community interest company to work with the Council to keep Arthur Hill Pool going until a new pool is built. We're aiming to raise £10,000 to set the new company up, prepare a business plan to raise the money we need to keep the pool open, and work with experienced fund-raisers to get the grant funding necessary for essential repair work.

We're keen to work with Reading Borough Council to do this, but don't worry - if the Council refuse to co-operate with us and the plan falls through, we've pledged to give all the money we raise to local schools to help them pay to for transport to swimming lessons at other pools.

Find out more on Facebook at SaveArthurHill, Twitter at @ArthurHillPool, or our webpage arthur-hill.org.uk