From 1 January it is not possible to swim in Veghel for months. Swimming pool De Beemd will close four months earlier than planned. Swimming sports association Nautilus has a big problem, because where should all those swimmers go?
By chance they found out at the swimming sports club that the swimming pool closes its doors on January 1, says Nautilus chairman Mark Spijkerboer. One of the members received a letter from operator Laco and so the ball started rolling.
The old swimming pool will be demolished and a new one will be built. Initially, the old pool would only close in the spring and it would be possible to swim in the new pool a month later. But the municipality has already canceled the contract with Laco as of New Year’s, as a result of which the swimmers will be out on the street for four months.
“That hit us raw,” says Mark Spijkerboer. He expects the association to lose members if it is not possible to swim for four months. In the meantime, he is busy looking for alternatives in Uden and Sint-Oedenrode.
But the pools in those places are already so full that the options are very limited. “It’s a difficult puzzle. I have one hand in my hair and the other at the wheel,” says the chairman.
It will be quite improvising for Nautilus and there can be a lot less swimming anyway. Spijkerboer had hoped for support from the municipality of Meijerijstad, but they only gave two e-mail addresses of the swimming pools in Uden and Sint-Oedenrode. No one at the municipality of Meijerijstad could be reached for comment.