Stonehaven Open Air Pool to re-open on Thursday
The pool will be open in time for the Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations
The Stonehaven Open Air Pool re-opens on Thursday 2 June in time for Her Majesty The Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The historic basin is approaching its 90th birthday, after originally opening in 1934.
Various leakage issues with it have caused a slight delay to the re-opening, however LiveLife Aberdeenshire's Serivce Manager Tim Stephen insists that the wait will be worth it.
"It'll be absolutely fantastic. There's a certain romanticism and a lot of love and enthusiasm for these facilities and although last year was good and it was great to have it open, it wasn't quite the same thing as having it full of lots of people.
"I think both ourselves and the Friends of Stonehaven Open Air Pool are really excited after a break of two years from normality to be having a mass number of people in", added Stephen.
It's the most northern heated outdoor pool in the UK and is believed to be just one of three in Scotland.
A challenging future
Despite the pool boasting a whole host of records, Stephen admitted that it's getting tougher and tougher each year to ensure it's fit for purpose.
"There's a lot of feedback from people saying we can't believe you have something this good in the North East of Scotland - we're very lucky.
"Although it is always worth saying that it is always a challenge to keep it going and there's certainly been a huge amount of commitment both from Aberdeenshire Council, the operational staff and the Friends of Stonehaven Open Air Pool to keep it going.
"It's a 90 year old building. It will require continuous work and certainly one of the things we'll be looking at next year will be the cost of the basin.
"Sometimes we have to be candid to say that with age, no matter what you are, whether you're living or whether you're building, you have a range of challenges.
"On the positive, we have invested a lot in the building and certainly there are no plans to close it and we hope to be open doing even better in 2023 as well."