I have signed and completed on a 99 year lease with North Somerset council for Portishead Open Air Pool, this secures the future of the pool for generations to come.

It has taken months of long hard negotiation to get to this stage but finally we have a long lease, a commercial agreement and a sitting out licence for the grass outside, the lease negotiation has been plagued with legal wrangling but finally we have an agreement that we can be proud of.

The signing of this lease not only marks an important milestone in the future of the pool, it also releases much needed funds from other organisations, the Town Council will now release the £17,250 they promised us last year and we can now apply for Lottery grants and to the Carbon Trust for grants install solar heating.

I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in this process, and announce that the pool will be open for business on the 30th April 2010 (nearly a month earlier than last year); please come and support your local pool.

The pool refurbishment is in full swing, but things haven’t exactly gone according to plan; the weather has been against us making painting almost impossible, we have been very short of plumbers and builders as well as sand and chippings.

Yesterday I received a call from the Fire Brigade who to tell me that Bristol Water will not allow them to use the fire hydrant to help us fill the pool, I have a meeting with Bristol Water at 10:30 this morning to try and sort this out.

The Wednesday deadline for having the pool finished is looking increasingly more difficult to achieve, but I am optimistic that we will get some extra help and it will be finished, I just hope there is water in the pool when we open!