Swimming pools are a vital lifeline for communities | Letters

Gill Empson recalls how a purpose-built pool in a comprehensive school served the whole community, while Cynthia Scott says public health campaigns are meaningless if leisure facilities are shut down

• When I started teaching in the 1960s, in a brand new, purpose-built comprehensive school in a mining town, we had our own swimming pool (Letters, 14 March). It was used by the nearly 2,000 pupils in the school, and also by the local primary schools. In the evenings there were mother and baby sessions and adult education classes. I taught many elderly people to swim, a source of great joy to them and to me.

The 21st century brought budget cuts and the school could no longer afford to heat the pool. It now stands empty in a building that can’t be used for any other purpose.