WHAT was supposed to be a quick visit to the Golden Square Pool to do some work turned into a couple of hours of cleaning up for volunteers on Thursday morning, coupled with another police investigation.
The president of the pool’s committee, Sam Kane, said there was kiosk stock all over the floor and damage to the roller door when his mother and his sister dropped by.
It marks the fourth time the venue has been broken into since Christmas – but the first time someone has tried to gain entry into the building on the site.
“I’m just really fed up,” Mr Kane said.
Twice before, the fence has been slashed. There has been evidence on previous occasions that people have gone for a swim in the pool, which is open until 8pm on warmer days.
The period from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, when the break-in occurred, was certainly hot.
“We’ve heard from pools all over that people have been swimming at night,” Mr Kane said.
He was concerned people were endangering their lives by swimming unsupervised at the pool.
Also frustrating was the extra work the break-ins created for the pool’s volunteers.
“It just adds another workload,” Mr Kane said.
He said the break-ins took an emotional toll on both the volunteers and the pool’s supporters, who last year rallied to keep the venue open.
“It’s a small number of our community [responsible for the break-ins] but it’s having a really big impact,” Mr Kane said.
Patrons were ‘pretty annoyed’ whenever they learned of offending at the pool, which Mr Kane said described as ‘blatantly disrespectful’.
He said police were at the pool today conducting investigations.
“We’re going to be working closely with police over the next few weeks,” Mr Kane said.
The break-in did not delay the pool’s opening on Thursday, thanks to the efforts of volunteers.
Mr Kane said the monetary cost associated with the break-ins was not high.
“Luckily, the roller door could be repaired easily,” he said.
The Golden Square Pool is estimated to have had welcomed than 10,000 patrons thus far this summer.
Mr Kane said there were about 1500 visitors just from Monday – Thursday this week, and about 500 patrons at the weekend.
“It’s been fantastic,” he said.
“These numbers just show us how much the Golden Square and Bendigo community wants this pool.”
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Emma D'Agostino
Covering general news and Bendigo council.
Covering general news and Bendigo council.
