EARTH-moving equipment is on site as work begins on Dartmouth’s much-anticipated indoor pool.

An indoor pool has been more than 50 years in the making, with many setbacks, and finally, work has begun to give local residents access to a swimming pool all year round.

‘It’s so important in a coastal area, to have a pool where children can learn to swim’, said pool trustee Ray Bridges. ‘Once they have this skill, our young people can take part in so many leisure and work activities based on the river.

‘We are so excited that we will be opening up all these opportunities for Dartmouth and surrounding villages.’

The pool should be completed in under 12 months and, as well as providing swimming lessons, leisure swimming and lifeguard training, it will give everybody the chance to try out new activities such as water polo.

It will be fully disability compliant and it will be an asset for people with mobility problems, who want to take part in non-weight bearing exercise.

The Trustees have worked to raise the required funding for the build and now they are moving into stage two to fund the fitting out costs.

There are several fund raising events planned, including a concert by Dartmouth Rock to be held at the academy on Friday, November 13.