Crowdfund Lambeth helps keep money flowing for Streatham Pool

Thanks to a community fundraising campaign, Streatham Common Co-Operative (SCCoop) successfully got the iconic Paddling Pool reopened for the school holidays early in August.

Generations of community

Streatham Common’s Paddling Pool has been a much-loved free community resource for generations. Since SCCoop took over the management of the pool from the council it has been funded mostly by the public. This year, when the local parents’ Facebook page reported that the pool couldn’t open – so many were prepared to donate, SCCoop couldn’t overlook the interest.

Meeting the target

Crowdfund Lambeth pledged £5,000 to exactly match the community donations and meet the original target. This is not the first time the Council has matched public funding for the Pool, and SCCoop and the Friends of Streatham Common are extremely grateful to everyone that donated.

SCCoop and their excellent volunteers have managed to make some repairs to make it safe for this season. A lot of the repair work was done by the Community Payback team. SCCoop aim to repair or replace the pump to make it more sustainable in the future.

Memories

One campaign supporter wrote: “Positive benefits to young people and families are huge. The pool is one of the most incredible local activities and will hold special childhood memories for many generations – if we can keep it.”

The crowdfund appeal therefore reached out not just to current users, but to parents and grandparents with happy memories of taking little children to the pool (or being taken there when younger) who don’t want to see this lovely community amenity close – especially in a cost of living crisis.

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