One of Aberdeenshire’s favourite tourist attractions will open for the summer season next weekend.
Stonehaven Open Air Swimming Pool will open next Saturday, and volunteers have been hard at work over the last few months to ensure it is looking its best.
The team of 36 have done repairs, stripped and painted walls, and a new mural, featuring the town’s stunning bay, has also been created.
Aberdeenshire Council has also installed a new heat exchanger to keep the seawater at a balmy 29C.
The attraction – which is the only heated Olympic-size pool in the UK – has been running for more than 80 years, and brings hundreds of visitors to the town every summer.
Now Friends of Stonehaven Open Air Swimming Pool, who maintain the landmark, are hoping to make it even more enticing for visitors by buying more poolside furniture and equipment.
The group is urging local businesses to sponsor either a week or a midnight swim during the season, with award-winning chip shop The Bay and local butchers Charles McHardy already signed up to support the pool.
David Culshaw, vice-chairman of the group, said: “Our job is to promote and improve the experience of the pool for our visitors and we’re trying to do things like buy new seats and loungers for the pool, and a new vacuum to keep the algae and sand off the pool tank.
“The covers for the pool will need replaced before too long so that’s another thing we could with the money.”
Previous fundraising activities have allowed the group to install a new locks on the 206 lockers in the changing rooms.
Sponsorship starts at £200 a week for the early or late season, and rises to £400 during the peak of summer.
To find out more, contact Elma McMenemy on 01569 750700.
The pool will be opened at 11am on Saturday, May 30 by Councillor Isobel Davidson, chairwoman of the education, learning and leisure committee. There will also be entertainment from Newtonhill Pipe Band and a disco.
Activities such as midnight swims, aqua ceilidhs and inflatable fun will attract visitors of all ages in the summer months.