Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Field

The Paddling Pool

The paddling pool has been in place since the 1930s and opens six weeks of the year during the school summer holidays. The council annually reviews their budget and during such reviews the Paddling Pool is always under threat due to (amongst other reasons) its high running and maintenance costs.

Friends of the Park have regularly campaigned to keep the existing paddling pool open. From the beginning of 2017, IDVerde - a private company - took over the maintenance of Green Spaces for the Council at Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Field and the Paddling Pool now falls under their remit. The Friends continue to monitor the impact of these changes and were delighted that the pool was repaired and opened and ran for the majority of the very hot summer in 2022.