DETERMINED swimmer Irene Campbell is calling for Saltcoats Bathing Pond to be restored to its former glory.

And for Irene, it means a lot as her late mum, Mary Nicol, was the bathing pond mistress for many years.

Now, she is calling for a feasibility study to be carried out to find out firstly, if the pool could be brought back to life and secondly, at what cost.

“I think it would be wonderful to see the outdoor pool or bathing pond as it was known, brought back to its original glory,” explained Irene.

She swims most days at Auchenharvie Leisure Centre and during lockdown, when she was unable to swim, she would look out at the bathing pond and wish it was open.

She has been in talks with architects who specialise in outdoor pool designs all over the world and the UK Lido group finding out all she can about how they are built and how they are run.

In the UK there are currently 130 outdoor pools and Irene is hoping that Saltcoats makes it 131.

Irene said: “There are a few projects happening along Saltcoats and South Beach and it is great to see so much in the pipeline for this area.

“I would just love to see an outdoor pool that was for the community to use, to be able to come down and see families in the water or triathletes training or the members of the sub aqua club diving, it would be a pool that was open to everyone.”

Irene has called on the help of Saltcoats councillor Jim Montgomerie to find out if North Ayrshire Council can support the bid to open it again.

Jim is confident the pool will be restored as he believes the whole community could benefit from it, adding: “Irene contacted me about a year ago and I was impressed with the research that she had carried out and I am happy to support this campaign.”

On Monday Irene and Jim headed to the site of the bathing pond to have a look.

Jim went on: “You can see the walls from the original pool, I can remember being young and coming down here to jump in, it would be great to see it open again for the people in this area to get the benefit from.”

As Irene walked around, she smiled as she spoke of her mum’s love for the pool.

“My mum loved to dive and this was the perfect place for that,” smiled Irene.

“When I look out I can see the big white rafts in my mind that we used to swim out to and it would be great to offer the people in this area the chance to enjoy an outdoor pool on their doorstep.

“I think lockdown has made people want to get outdoors more than ever and to have a community pool would be fantastic.

“We have to be realistic and that is why the feasibility study is vital at this stage.”