February 2025

Improve your physical and mental health at Birtley Community Pool

Birtley Community Pool reopened in September as a community run charity, after it was closed for over a year by Gateshead Council.  Over £400,000 was raised by a combination of local support, two Crowdfunding campaigns and other local donations, and funding from several large organisations including the Community Ownership Fund, the National Lottery and The Royal Foundation.

The Royal Foundation is Prince William’s charity and he visited the pool on October 3rd 2024 along with several Olympic swimmers to celebrate the reopening of the pool.

The trustees and staff who run the pool have created a warm and welcoming, family friendly place which offers a range of activities for all ages and abilities.  The pools are kept warmer than average: 29°C for the main and improver pools, and 31°C for the small pool, which is real tonic during those long, cold, winter months.  The new LED lighting has created a lighter, brighter environment in the pool area for both swimmers and spectators.

How does swimming help your health and wellbeing?

Swimming is a vital life skill which improves cardio-vascular health, burns lots of calories, and supports mental wellbeing. It’s especially beneficial for older adults, pregnant women, those with disabilities, and people recovering from injuries.

Swimming is also an opportunity to socialise and meet new people during a family fun session, or when participating in an aquafit session, or just when swimming with others in a public session

Yvonne Probert, chair of Birtley Community Pool Trustees, said “the benefits of swimming are significant and wide ranging, and we want to encourage more of the community to experience those benefits by participating in activities at our pool”

Activities available at Birtley Community Pool

Whether you’re looking just to swim a few lengths, improve your fitness and swimming technique, or simply have fun with your family, Birtley Community Pool has something for everyone and is open seven days a week

Fast, medium and slow lanes are available throughout the week for those who swim for fitness, whilst the rest of the main pool and the small pool are available for families or those who like to swim at a more leisurely pace.

Five Aquafit sessions and an Aqua-Intro session provide a different way to exercise in the water, which are delivered by three qualified instructors. We introduced a new aquafit session on Saturday mornings starting February 8th.

On Friday evenings (7.15pm to 8.15pm), Saturdays (2pm to 3pm and 3.15pm to 4.15pm) and Sundays (1pm to 2pm and 2.15pm to 3.15pm) there are family fun sessions including a giant inflatable obstacle course and a water slide, which are very popular but don’t need to be booked in advance.  Pool parties are available on Saturdays and Sundays, once the public family fun sessions have finished.  Once a month, we have a floating sound bath session, when participants enjoy 60 minutes of soothing relaxation.

Swimming lessons are provided daily by Swim City, an award-winning swim school, including lessons for mothers and babies, pre-school children and adults, as well as children of school age.

Prices for the different activities are competitive and affordable, and a monthly membership option is available for those who want to swim regularly at the pool.

Public swimming starts from 6.15am every weekday morning and from 7am at weekends.  Lane swimming is available all day until 6pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, 7pm on Wednesdays, 9.30pm on Thursdays and 4pm on Fridays.  Late evening swimming is also available on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays from 8pm to 9.30pm.

Vending machines in our reception area provide a wide range of hot drinks, cold snacks and chilled water.  We also sell a range of swimwear and swimming equipment. We have free Wi-Fi throughout the building and a large spectator area overlooking the pools, with tables and chairs and a soft play area for younger children to use. Details about the activities, prices and the pool timetable are all available on the website.

Matthew Grant, treasurer of Birtley Community Pool Trustees, said “Our regular customers are enjoying these activities and giving us great feedback.  If you haven’t yet visited us, please come to the pool, give one of our activities a try and support your local community asset at the same time”.

Timetables

February Half-Term Timetable 

March Timetable 

New Triathlon Coaching Session

January 2025

New Parking arrangements at the pool from February 6th

From February 6th, we will be introducing a parking scheme for the car park at the pool, which will be installed by a company called Parking Eye.  Similar parking schemes are already in place at other locations in the area including Washington Leisure Centre.

The reason for this change is we want to prioritise the use of our car park for our customers, rather than other members of the public using it to park their cars during the day who are not using the pool.  During the evenings, when Swim City provide swimming lessons at the pool, the car park is often very full or at capacity.

Please remember to enter your registration on one of the tablets or QR codes at reception for 4 hours free parking and to avoid incurring a fine. Ensure that you enter the correct registration and click submit. If our car park is full during busy periods (Mon to Fri 3-7pm) please park in the car park near Morrisons and not the residential streets by the pool, as this can cause issues for local residents.

How will this work for our customers?

Once the system goes live in February, customers who pay for their swims at reception or are coming for Swim City lessons will be able to park for up to four hours free of charge, as long as they enter their registration numbers into a terminal at reception when they arrive at the pool.  Parking Eye will be installing a camera at the entrance to the car park, which takes a photo of the registration number of every car which enters the car park.  The Parking Eye system will match the registration numbers entered by customers at reception to the photographs taken in the car park, to ensure no charge is made for their parking, as long as they leave the car park within four hours.

The car registration numbers of our customers with memberships will be set up permanently within the Parking Eye system, so they can park free of charge whenever they use the pool.  It will not be necessary for members to enter their registration numbers each time they come to the pool, as the system will recognise their registration numbers on arrival.

How will this work for people who are not customers but still wish to park?

People who are not using the pool, but still wish to park there for a period of time, can do so if they pay for their parking on arrival.  The parking charge will be £1 per hour for the first six hours and £10 for between 6 and 12 hours.  Birtley Community Pool will receive 80% of the parking charges, which will be an additional source of income to help us cover our costs.

Payment methods

People who are not using the pool but wish to pay for parking at the pool can do so either by downloading the Evology app on their phone, accessing the Evology website direct, or by paying at the pool reception and entering their registration number on one of the terminals.  Details of the Evology app and website will be on the parking signs which will be installed around the car park.

Parking fines

Once the system goes live on February 6th, a parking fine of £100 will be issued by Parking Eye to people who park at the pool in the following circumstances:

• Members of the public who are not customers of the pool and do not pay for their parking on arrival via the app, website or at pool reception
• Customers who do not enter their registration number into one of the terminals when arriving at the pool
• Customers who have entered their registration number on arrival at the pool but do not leave the car park within four hours

Individuals who trigger a parking fine will receive a letter from Parking Eye with details of when the parking offence occurred and instructions on how to pay the fine. The fine is reduced to £60 if it is paid within 14 days.  If customers forget to enter their vehicle registration when they arrive, Birtley Community Pool will ask for a reduced parking fine of £20 to be issued by Parking Eye, which is just to recover the costs incurred by Parking Eye.

We will put up prominent signage in reception to remind customers and visitors to record their registration on arrival and our staff member on reception will also remind customers to do this.

Physical changes at the pool

Parking Eye will install a camera at the entrance to the car park along with a “Pay on Arrival” sign. They will also install six more parking signs around the edge of the car park which provide details of the new arrangements including:

• Guidance for customers on how to record their registration number in reception so they can park free of charge for up to four hours
• The parking charges, for those who wish to pay, and how to pay for parking
• A warning saying “Failure to comply with the terms and conditions will result in a parking charge of £100”

Parking Eye have also installed barriers around the edge of the far end of the car park which will prevent anyone parking on the grassed area to the east of the car park. This was required by Parking Eye and agreed with Gateshead Council, who are responsible for this land.

Aquafit Classes

Are you looking for a fun, low-impact way to stay fit and healthy this January?

Join us at Birtley Community Pool for Aquafit!

Weekly Schedule:

•  Mondays: 8:15PM with Bailey Hooper
• Tuesdays: 12:00PM with Andrea Liversidge
•  Wednesdays: 9:15AM with Andrea Liversidge
•  Aqua Intro (Thursdays): 7:05PM with Jason Metcalfe – great for beginners!
•  Fridays: 9:15AM with Andrea Liversidge

£7 per class or £63 for a block payment of 10 classes (does not need to be used consecutively)

Have a membership at our pool? Aquafit is £6 per class for members or £54 for a block payment of 10 classes.

No booking required! Just turn up and dive in. However, we are working on a booking system to make it even easier for you in the future.

Keep an eye out, more classes will be added!

Birtley Amateur Swimming Club Returning

Exciting News: Birtley Amateur Swimming Club is Reopening at Birtley Community Pool!

We’re thrilled to share that Birtley Amateur Swimming Club will be reopening at Birtley Community Pool every Wednesday, starting Wednesday, 8th January 2025!

Session Details

• 1st Session: 7:00 PM – 7:50 PM
• 2nd Session: 8:00 PM – 8:50 PM

Cost: £4 per week

The first week of reopening will be exclusively for previous Club members and those invited from the waiting list to join the Small Pool (invitations will be sent via email).

For full details, including FAQs, please visit the Club’s website here.

Help spread the word, and let’s give the Club a warm welcome back!

We look forward to seeing you there.