For a second straight year, families whose main swimming spot is the shuttered Thames Pool will be given free passes to use at other pools within the city.
The City of London has announced its outdoor pools will open for the summer on July 1. However, that does not include Thames Pool which will remain closed due to significant infrastructure damage – the result of its location in the Thames River’s floodplain.
City officials confirmed those affected by the closure will be provided with free recreation swim passes and scheduled bus rides to South London Community Pool. The swim passes are good for unlimited access to recreation swims at any of the city’s other indoor or outdoor pools from July 1 to September 3. Additionally, the passes will allow users access to the Centre Branch YMCA’s indoor pool’s recreation swim sessions. Those sessions run Monday and Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The city will be contacting those who received a free swim pass because of the Thames Pool closure last year. Thames Pool users who aren’t contacted by the city by June 26, can call 519-661-5575 to request a pass.
Much like last year, a bus will take swimmers from Old South to the South London Community Pool for the rec swim sessions from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays. The bus will leave Municipal Lot 12 at 199 Ridout Street North at 12:30 p.m. and Tecumseh Public School at 401 Tecumseh Avenue East at 12:45 p.m. Swimmers will have to re-board the bus at 3 p.m. to make the return trip back to their neighbourhood.
The reopening of the rest of London’s outdoor pools on July 1 is weather permitting, the city noted.
Parents can book their child in for learn to swim lessons and aquatic leadership lessons through the city’s ‘play your way‘ online portal. Drop-in recreation swim, lane swim, aquafit, and parent and tot swim sessions will also be available at our outdoor pools this summer. Registration for those programs is not required.
The city’s ten wading pools are scheduled to be reopened the week of July 1 with just over half welcoming people back on the Saturday. The hours of operation for these pools are expected to be announced on the city’s website in the coming days.
A full list of London’s outdoor and wading pools can be found at london.ca/aquatics.
