TENBURY Swimming Pool has taken the first step in becoming greener in a move that will also generate vital funds for the facility.

It is as a result of a donation by Tenbury Swimming Club and a local solar panel installer SunRG.

Phase one of the 10 kW PV installation has been completed just in time to qualify for the higher feed-in tariff rate that will provide an income stream to the Tenbury Community Pool Ltd of over £550 a year.

The income is indexed linked and is expected to generate more than £16,000 over the next 20 years.

It will also provide the pool with 3,500 hours of energy each year provided by the sun.

This will reduce the pollution that would be caused by the emissions from more traditional electricity production and will also cut the running costs at the pool.

“As a keen swimmer I know the Pool uses a huge amount of electricity and the new operators of the Pool, Freedom Leisure, who took over in February is looking to make the pool far more sustainable,” said Mike Webb, managing director of SunRG.

“We saw this as an opportunity to help. To celebrate installing over 5,000 panels since the company began in 2010, we donated the system which, once completed, will be valued

at £12,000 to Tenbury Pool thanks in part to a cash contribution of £4,500 from Tenbury Swimming Club”.

Tenbury Swimming Pool was built in the 1960s and is running by a local community based company that took over responsibility for the facility from the Guild at the beginning of 2014.

At the time there were concerns about the future of the pool that was in need of a major refurbishment.

One of the biggest challenges facing the group that runs the facility was to make people aware that it is not run by Malvern Hills District Council as had been a common misconception.

However, the pool does receive an annual grant from the Council but there had been fears that as a result of the cuts in public spending the grant from the Council might be lost.

However, there was huge relief when the Council announced that it was going to continue to provide support for another five years and so secure the future of the facility until at least 2021.

Freedom Leisure was also awarded a contract to run the pool that is owned by Tenbury Community Pool Ltd and they took over in February.

Earlier this year there was a major refurbishment of the gym including the installation of new exercise equipment.

Under the management arrangement the pool is owned by the local company who remain responsible for the structural issues relating to the building.

Freedom Leisure that operates both the pool and the gym are responsible to the day to day operation of the facility.

The grant from Malvern Hills District Council makes a major contribution to the cost of running the pool but this also has to be supported by local fund raising.