save coburg olympic pool

Have you seen the plants new plants in front of Coburg Olympic Pool?

2009-08-26T22:26:36+10:00

by Janet Grigg
A couple of weekends ago, a few of the Friends of Coburg Pool (FCOP) met out the front of the pool armed with succulents from our gardens, compost, gardening tools and mulch for a spot of guerrilla gardening. We had noticed how sad the bed out the front looked and decided to do something about it. After an assessment of the soil (dry and water repellent) and consideration of plant placement, we decided to work on the long bed. Soil replenishment and planting then began in earnest. By the time we'd finished, it looked so much better.

If anyone is passing by, I'm sure the new plants would appreciate some water, maybe from your water bottle if you are nearly home. There is still another garden bed at the entrance to the pool with a weed tree (cotoneaster) that needs to be removed and that could could do with some plants. Perhaps another group might decide to do some more guerrilla gardening? Every time I go past on the bus and see the garden we planted still there and growing, I get a little thrill. By the time summer comes, I'm sure the garden will have grown, filling out the bed some more and be looking even more magnificent.

Saving Coburg Olympic Pool until we can swim in the lake again

2009-07-31T11:50:31+10:00

by Melissa Alexander
The wind has been bitterly cold of late and it’s hard to imagine that in only a few more months we will be swimming in our beloved outdoor pool. After such a long fight to get Coburg Olympic Pool re-opened, summer seemed even sweeter as we relished every minute of swimming, splashing, picnicking and barbequing at Coburg’s favourite watering hole. Now that our pool is under threat again, I’m glad we stayed until the very last minute during the heat wave we call January. Leaving the cool depths of the pool, the shade of the paper barks and willows and the riverside ambience to go back to our hotbox houses seemed unthinkable.

Now our beloved pool is facing a major re-development. Within one summer we have gone from trying to keep the pool open to trying to preserve it from the clutches of unnecessary development. The concept plan of the Coburg Initiative (original link to www.thecoburginitiative.com.au/ is now broken) shows the demolition of the Coburg Leisure Centre to make way for a residential housing development and has the Coburg Olympic Pool and surrounds earmarked as the preferred location for a super-duper whiz bang aquatic facility. The line that we keep hearing from the council and the developers is that “Coburg doesn’t need two pools”. Well, here is a newsflash, which from all the community consultation should already be ringing alarm bells for the initiative people. Neither the Kodak site nor central Coburg has people living in them yet. Pentridge Village is still being built and already our local community services are stretched to full capacity, struggling to provide basic community needs. I cannot get my children into swimming lessons, the kinder has a waiting list that could fill three kindergartens, there is no local high school and the public transport system is failing miserably. At the risk of stating the obvious, cutting down our pool from one to two does not equal more services for more people, it equals less. Just imagine what this will mean when there are 20,000 more homes in the municipality.

The two pools have completely different functions and purposes and to change either one would be a huge loss to the entire municipality. The Coburg Leisure Centre is easily accessible by public transport and conveniently located for many people, particularly the elderly. After visiting the centre it’s logical that while you’re in Coburg you will do the shopping, go to the library, pop in to the post office and meet friends in the mall for coffee. The Coburg Olympic Pool on the other hand is on the bike path and readily accessible for families and young people who wish to spend the whole day lazing by the pool, jumping off the diving board, swimming laps or playing in the wading pool with the little ones. The outdoor pool took over from the local park and neighbourhood house and functioned as the village square over the summer months. I am not trying to show that there are disparate groups of people using the pools; this is not always the case, what I’m trying to show is that both pools serve completely different purposes and both are used by our community for many different reasons.

The embodied energy of both the pools is not factored into the equation when arguments about sustainability and energy use come into play. Yes, we agree that pools are huge energy guzzlers and it would be very easy for the council to close one down and subsequently talk about how green they are. Surely it is better to have a couple of communal facilities used by everyone than for individuals in the neighbourhood to have their own? Surely it is smarter, greener, more sustainable to keep what we have and improve on it rather than bulldoze existing facilities to build new ones? Surely we would save more energy walking to the pool than driving? To me that means having more quality facilities not less.
I have been to a couple of the consultation groups and I felt the biggest concern of the community was keeping and extending on our green and public space. After a look at the draft plan it seems that housing is encroaching on our communal space, it is certainly encroaching on our pool space. We need more houses and more green space, both are required for healthy, happy communities. We need to say to the developers definitively what we require and we need to say it loud, for once it’s gone we will never be able to reclaim it. Let’s save Coburg Olympic Pool until we can swim in the lake again, after all that’s what the outdoor pool was built for; we had polluted our water system too much to use it for anything but looking at.

The Coburg Initiative

2009-07-14T22:47:21+10:00

by Kitty Owens
Coburg Olympic Pool is back in the spotlight due to a suggested 'redevelopment' as a result of the Coburg Initiative. The Coburg Initiative is a Moreland Council/Equiset (Grollo)planned development of inner Coburg.

A draft concept plan which features Coburg Leisure Centre(currently a well used indoor pool/gym/exercise space) 'relocated' has been launched for comment - the plan is apparently to move the leisure centre to the site of the Olympic Pool - so that apartments can be built on the Leisure Centre site in central Coburg.

Moreland City Council Mayor, Lambros Tapinos has stated that he thought it was 'in the long term interests of the council and the community to have the indoor and outdoor pools in one location".

Friends of Coburg Olympic Pool are of the view that the two facilities serve different purposes, and that there is great value to the community in investing in the pools at the two sites. The Coburg Leisure Centre is well located for drop in recreational activities, in a transport and activity hub, whereas Coburg Olympic Pool is a destination for a riverside outdoor swimming and picnic experience. Friends of Coburg Olympic Pool would like to see minor improvements at the Coburg Olympic Pool site but do not want to see a mega indoor facility take over the 1950s suburban pool feel and riverside ambience.

To have your say on the proposed vision you can:

contact the Mayor, Lambros Tapinos
Mobile: 0433 419 075
Phone: (03) 9240 1193
Fax: (03) 9240 1179
Email: ltapinos@moreland.vic.gov.au

write to the Moreland Leader
make a comment here or
write to the Moreland Leader at moreland@leadernewspapers.com.au or
by post to The editor, Moreland Leader, 2nd Floor, 192 High Street, Northcote 3070

Unfortunately the opportunity to comment online on The Coburg Initiative has passed but you can see what others have written here.

Looks like our beautiful pool is under threat again.

End of season pool party

2009-03-08T23:04:41+11:00

On Sunday the 15th of March Belgravia Leisure is hosting an end of season pool party at the Coburg Olympic Pool from 11.00 am til 6.00pm. There will be free entry, inflatable pool toys and a sausage sizzle.

Even if it ends up being too cold for a proper swim, it would be nice to hang out on the grass and enjoy our pool one last time before it closes at the end of March until December.

We've also started a Facebook page which you can find here.

early morning swimming sessions

2009-02-02T22:39:04+11:00

Each Wednesday during February (that's the 4th, the 11th, the 18th and the 25th) there will be an early morning swimming session at Coburg Olympic Pool from 6.30am to 8.30am. Perfect for that swim before work. Or perhaps a chance to do some laps without the children. Or maybe a chance to enjoy the pool before the busyness and/or heat of the day.

The Friends of The Coburg Olympic Pool are contributing some of the money raised at Pool Together towards these mornings. We've thought all along that the pool really needs to be open early in the morning to reach full potential as a lap swimming venue. So this is an opportunity to test the waters and show that there is a demand for this timeslot.

It would be great if readers of this site could spread the word about the Wednesday in February early swim sessions to other pool users or anyone else who might be interested. We've also just started a Friends of Coburg Olympic Pool page on Facebook. So if anyone wants to become a fan and spread the word....

Of course it's also pretty obvious that there's a demand for opening hours between 8.30am and 11.00am and again at the end of the day, particularly on hot nights. So expect a new campaign around opening hours soon. Let us know your thoughts.

Pool food

2009-02-01T22:17:16+11:00

by Kitty Owens
Dinner at the pool is the newest coolest social occasion in the Northern Suburbs for the summer of 09. This is the start of some recipe sharing for pool foodies - and an invitation to dine for those who haven’t tried it yet. Coburg Olympic Pool is open until 8pm on very hot summer nights and there’s a free BBQ on site. Picnic/takeaway/BBQ dinner at the pool is THE ANSWER for hot families from the Republics of Moreland and Darebin, who can be seen nibbling and chatting in the generous shade of the noble pool trees.

Pool food I have noticed on nearby picnic rugs and towels

Thai takeaway – spring rolls, rice dishes etc. Overhead leisurely discussion of Thai restaurants in East Brunswick – all good.
BBQ snags and skewers, all kinds of salad, rolls – this is a popular choice
Cold soy chicken wings with pasta salad – very organised
Quiche from a fancy bakery
Leftover Indian curry
Tinned baked beans with sausage rolls from the kiosk
Home made caramelised onion frittata
Home made icy poles in an esky!

Pool food possibilities

Take away options nearby include
Fish and chips or pizza from the shops further along Murray road - on the corner of Elizabeth Street.
The best choice of kebabs in Australia – surely - from Coburg shops (Kebab Station for best bread, Half Moon Café for best dips).
Good Vietnamese from the pho shop near Preston Market (on High street) – Rice Paper rolls anyone?
Lovely modern Indian food from Café Sarabella in Coburg mall – buy it in the day when shopping and shove it in the fridge to take to the pool for dinner.
Veg to Go in East Brunswick has great vegetarian take away
Zaatar pizzas and cold salt yoghurt drinks from Al Alami on Waterfield St, Coburg

BBQ suggestions

Coburg Meat supply in Coburg mall does prize winning snags, and have organic, free range and halal options too.
Coburg market – for mushrooms, capsicums, eggplant, zuchinni to BBQ – and haloumi from Elli’s deli
Preston market has it all including a great range of fish
Tasty Rooster in Waterfield Coburg - barn raised not cage raised chicken – they really are tasty - and you can get cold ones from the day before.

Here’s Something I Prepared Earlier (more ideas for dinners to bring from home)

Gazpacho – mm lots of fresh tomatoes whizzed up with stale bread and olive oil and a little good vinegar. Icy cold in a thermos,
Tortillas warmed on the BBQ with lots of fresh salsa (tomato, onion, fresh coriander, chilli, lime juice - mango optional – not traditional but good if you like mango).
Iced water with lemon slices in a glass bottle
Smoked trout with bread and salad
Tropical fruit skewers – with marshmallows optional for kitsch kid spoiling
Dream Pool Café menu – to be continued

The pool has a kiosk selling classic retro pool fare – icecreams, chips and sausage rolls, but many people muse wouldn’t it be great to have a café …apparently Prahan pool has a nice cafe. Suggested items the café could sell

Coffee frappes like they sell in Greece (instant coffee, evaporated milk and heaps of shaved ice) – this suggestion from the glamorous Greek women on the bench the other night
Decent coffee! ‘Isn’t it too hot’? I said ‘NO’ said Gina ‘I had to ring a friend who was on their way to the pool to get them to bring me a take-away coffee’.
Frozen bananas coated in chocolate and coconut – they sold these at Ceres for a while
Fruit smoothies
Those yummy Turkish salty yoghurt drinks (addictive)

PLEASE SEND IN YOUR IDEAS AND RECIPES – and pictures of pool food would be good too.

ride to pool

2009-01-20T23:02:24+11:00

What a gorgeous day at the pool! The weather couldn't have been better and about 600 people turned up. There was music and dancing, fun on the inflatable pool thingy, bouncing in the bouncing castle and sausages a sizzling. Not to mention our beautiful pool and the grass and shady trees that surround it. It's impossible for photos to capture just how awesome this day was but you get the idea! If anyone else has any photos they'd like to share, we now have a fledgling flickr group or you can email them to me at janetmgrigg@gmail.com.

1. t-shirts were in demand, 2. jumping castle, 3. learn to swim pool, 4. robin and sunny, 5. from the entrance, 6. from the terrace looking down to the big pool, 7. diving board in action, 8. lining up for the inflatable, 9. mel watching Newland Creak, 10. merri, sunny and some other children dancing to Newland Creak, 11. watching kids on the inflatable, 12. relaxing at the end of the day, 13. learn to swim pool, 14. splash into the diving pool, 15. lifeguard at learn to swim pool, 16. andy, 17. talking by the pool, 18. bike, 19. nick waves for the camera, 20. looking over the big pool Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Perhaps the words someone handed to me at the end of the day tell the story the best;
"18th Jan 2008, band a playin', bikes in the distance. The surrounding green like nowhere else I know in this town. Kids breakdancing to the band that's by no means hip hop. But it's community, it's diversity, it's adding to the colour of our moods. On this sunday, on this sunday."

Ride to Pool Day

2009-01-12T23:25:16+11:00

This Sunday, the 18th of January 2009, there's a special Ride to the Pool Day to celebrate the re-opening of the Coburg Olympic Pool and it's special location along the Merri Creek bike path. People are encouraged to cycle to the pool and park out the front. Enjoy free entry as the guest of Christine Campbell MP (Member for Pascoe Vale). Swim in the sparkling waters of the pool, laze under shady trees and listen to a feast of live music. Jump on the jumping castle, eat sausages at the Moreland City Council sausage sizzle (gold coin to charity).

Music starts from 1.00pm....

1.00 - 1.30 Jaye Kranz
1.45 - 2.30 Caroline Kennedy
2.45 - 3.30 Ash Naylor
3.45 - 4.30 Newland Creak
4.45 - 5.30 The Short Order Schefs

There will also be a Friends Of Coburg Olympic Pool table where you can come and have a chat or maybe purchase a tee-shirt or bag. The weather looks like it's going to be good, at this stage the forecast is for 28C... perfect for hanging out at the pool.

come on in, the water's fine

2009-01-12T22:39:11+11:00

We've been swimming quite a lot at our newly opened Coburg Olympic Pool. The season got off to a slow start, with all that cold weather. Then one day after Christmas, I decided that warm or not, we just had to go for a swim. It was fabulous. Once we got in. The getting in was the hard bit, but seriously after that, it was truly fantastic. And it's lovely to look around and see lots of people using the pool.

I've also managed to sneak in a solo visit and swim some laps, followed by some time out under the big shady trees with a book. The view to the creek is most restful. I highly recommend it. There's also a basket ball pad and a barbeque, both of which seem to be getting good use.

So if you haven't been down for a swim yet, come on in, the water's fine.

Re-opening celebration cancelled

2008-12-12T22:36:28+11:00

The re-opening celebration planned for Sunday 14th of December at the Coburg Olympic Pool has been cancelled due to expected bad weather. It is hoped that the bands will play at the Ride to Pool day planned for January 18th. Please spread the word. Thanks.