Pool still brings joy to community after 60 years of diving in

Pool supervisor, Casey Hynes, whose mum, Vicki Rumbel, used to swim at the pool as a child, said that although much has changed at the facility over the years there is still a lot that has stayed the same.

"My mum remembers that she used the pool in about year two of school. Really not much has changed in the structure of the pool. It's gone through a few different managers over the time," she said.

Mrs Hynes has been the supervisor of the pool since 2020 and being born and bred in Dungog meant she has spent a significant amount of time at the pool throughout her life.

Seeing so many children use the pool in the same ways she once did is a huge highlight for Mrs Hynes. "Being able to see the kids on the open days - that's one of the things that we love," she said.

"Watching the kids learn to swim, I'm a learn to swim teacher so I just love when they get it, when you see them and it just clicks. They were so scared and all of a sudden they're not, I love that.

"We get a lot of lap swimmers and people in rehabilitation come in and walk up and down the pool which is great as well."

The pool did struggle throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, electing to remain open throughout the majority of it. This was no easy task with the pool having to implement measures such as more lane ropes and ensuring all swimmers were vaccinated.

"We were thrown into the deep end. We were here and then all of a sudden there were COVID restrictions. Lane ropes were used a lot to keep people split. It was the first time that the slide couldn't be used," Mrs Hynes said.

"It was difficult to manage. We had to make sure we were all vaccinated to and they had to be vaccinated to come here at the peak. Other than that we just pushed through. We're glad we did. A lot of pools remained closed because it was too hard to manage, we were open nearly the whole time."

Ever since the pandemic the pool has seen consistent growth with more and more people coming to exercise every year. "Every season we notice that it's getting more and more use," Mrs Hynes said.

Being at the helm Mrs Hynes is appreciative of all the help that goes on behind the scenes to keep the pool afloat. "It's good for a lot of things. A lot of people come and they might be in bad health. It's just nice to be in the pool for any social gatherings as well," she said.

"We live around water. Kids need to learn to swim."