We are proud to be working with the Fordell community to help save their community pool, starting with detailed designs for safety improvements.
The following article, written by Mike Tweed, appeared in the Whanganui Chronicle on 20 June 2026.
A major funding push to save the Fordell Community Pool is gathering pace.
The 88-year-old facility in rural Whanganui was closed for the 2025-26 season because the pump could not adequately circulate water.
The Whanganui District Council gifted the site to the Fordell Community Pool Society this year, with the society raising $51,000 in the past 12 months.
Society chairwoman Sarah Thompson said upgrades needed to be completed “in a package”.
“If you’ve got an ageing pool as we have and it’s got layers of flaking paint, you do not buy new filters and pumps for all those flakes to go through,” she said.
“We’re looking at a fibreglass coating which will pretty it up, cover any cracks and provide us with 25 years of longevity.
“Plus, we won’t have the overhanging doom of getting the paint brushes out every five years and the community having to roll its sleeves up.”
At a meeting on June 17, the Whanganui Rural Community Board voted to grant the society $1000 for the project and endorse its funding applications to other external funders.
Thompson’s application to the board said the pool lining, pumps, filtration system, piping, skimmers, chemical disbursement technology and installation would cost about $300,000.
She told board members it was one part of the overall project and Whanganui’s Dalgleish Architects had drawn up, free of charge, detailed designs for safety improvements at the facility.
“Two changing rooms will be moved up to the top and the entrance will be changed, with a meeting space for all the kids to sit …
“It’s quite a congested space, and we’re looking to rectify that.”
Another part of the project was a shallow-water play facility, similar to the one at Kōwhai Park, Thompson said.
Fordell School principal Yvette Moorhouse told the Chronicle that busing students to Whanganui to swim “comes at an exceptional expense”.
The school has a roll of about 140.
“That’s not really doable. We can apply for grants, but how long does that go for?” she said.
“There are seven schools in our rural cluster, and we hold our swimming sports there, so it caters to quite a few children.
“It’s a community hub. It pulls us all together.”
She said the pool was deep, putting students “out of their comfort zone”.
“We are all surrounded by water, so we want our kids to be confident and know what to do when they’re near it.
“And they need places to go and things to do outside of school hours. We can’t lose that.”
Thompson told the Chronicle funding for the project had so far come from a Ladies Day Out event, a crutching volunteer day and a raffle for a trip to Queenstown.
Matthews Nurseries had donated more than $20,000 through sales of its “Fordell” rose, she said.
“We are looking to put on a motocross event, a quiz night, a karaoke night and another round of Ladies Day Out.
“There will also be business and family placards to put in the pool grounds.”
She said funding applications would soon be made to the Four Regions Trust, Whanganui Community Foundation and New Zealand Community Trust. Once a third of the project’s total cost had been raised, the society could apply for a Lottery Community Facilities grant.
“A lot of things need to be addressed and we can’t do one without the other.
“But we are ready to take on the battle. We want to keep it within our community for another 85 years.”
Donations to the project can be made at givealittle.co.nz.
