Staff at Lakes Leisure Ulverston on Priory Road are celebrating their fundraising success after brand new pool hoist was installed at the swimming pool.

The swimming pool hoist allows both adults and children with additional needs to be safely lifted in and out of the swimming pool for each session. Unfortunately during 2009 the pool hoist broke down which meant that many couldn't enjoy the swimming sessions they had been used to as they were unable to get into the pool safely.

To repair the hoist would cost in the region of a few thousand pounds, but because of the new modern hoists available the staff at lakes leisure felt it was time to invest in a brand new hoist which would cater for everybody's needs including those more profoundly disabled. The appeal named began in December 2009.

One existing customer who will significantly benefit as he grows older is Harvey. Harvey is a 6 year old boy who uses the pool regularly. He has very little voluntary movement and spends all of his days in his wheelchair. He loves the water and swimming gives him the opportunity to spend quality time with his family, who all love swimming. The old pool hoist was not really suitable to transport him safely so we thought it appropriate for him to head our hoist appeal.

Ulverston Town Council very kindly agreed to make up the amount needed for the hoist after all the fundraising efforts had taken place. The appeal was a huge success and fundraising activities included staff member Luke Tarr doing a sponsored head shave (Sandra Garnett, Centre Manager doing the shaving!) Ulverston Swimming Club doing a sponsored swim, tombolas, a raffle and a staff auction where staff offered their time or skills to be auctioned off to other staff (this included a tennis lesson, golf lesson, 3 hours hard labour from Will Howard, cakes, babysitting personal training and many more.) All extremely good fun!!

By the end of March all the money needed for the new hoist had been pledged £7430 including many donations from local businesses like Forge Europa and individuals from the community and the Townlands Trust. Lakes Leisure also contributed a substantial amount. The brand new pool hoist is now in operation at lakes leisure Ulverston and is available for use.

In addition the local Curry Club have also kindly donated funds for a changing bench to assist users further.

Appeal co-ordinator Kate Smith said: "We were so pleased at speedy response to our appeal. Lots of schools, businesses, individuals and staff all got together to make this happen. We had great fun with all our fundraising and would like to thank everyone who helped, for their generosity."