The chair of the Southern Swimming Pool has said that the community ‘rallying together’ is what helped keep the pool open.

A new financial proposal put forward to the Department of Education, Sport and Culture has enabled the pool to continue to operate within its current subvention.

Laurence Vaughan-Williams said that if financial assistance wasn’t given, then the pool could’ve run out of money by the end of this year.

Assurances were also made to the board that a new pool would be put into the plans for the redevelopment of Castle Rushen High School.

Mr Vaughan-Williams said that meeting with the Education, Sport and Culture Minister, as well as the Chief Minister, was ‘positive’.

He said: ‘The Isle of Man is a wonderful place, and when you get a situation where an executive decides to undertake or implement policies, which are not popular with the residents of the area, then they will share their disquiet - that’s what happened here.

‘When this decision was made, without much warning to close the pool, the community and MHKs rallied around while a little girl wrote to the minister saying “please don't take my pool”. That is community action, and what I love about the Isle of Man.

‘I’m so pleased that the Chief Minister and Education Minister came down to the pool and listened to what we have to say.’

Mr Vaughan-Williams also said that the plans for a new pool at Castle Rushen are ‘marvelous’, while comparing it to buying a new car.

He continued: ‘If you have an old motorcar, you can get it serviced, you can put on new parts, but eventually, it's going to let you down and you're probably going to need a new one. So that is the situation we are in with the pool like everything else.’

Reporting by Emma Draper