Ships & Castles

Aim

We are working to refurb & re-open Ships & Castles leisure centre with 25m pool AND protect Pendennis Headland from interested developers

Pendennis Leisure Community Interest Company was formed by the people of Falmouth, Penryn and surrounding villages to operate and enhance leisure services at Ships & Castles, Falmouth. Unfortunately Cornwall Council closed the leisure centre in April wanting to sell it for development, but Falmouth Town Council have negotiated an option to take over the site under a Devolution Deal and want the community to run it, which is where we come in.

United by Birmingham 2022 It's been particularly poignant having our pool closed while the rest of country celebrated England's 32 swimming medals at this summer's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Stars like Benjamin Proud, Adam Peaty and Brodie Williams have all talked about the importance of community swimming pools and we take them as our inspiration. Sport England's determination to ensure the Games have a lasting community impact, and their support for grassroots activity across the country is giving us hope that if we mobilise our community we WILL succeed in attracting the additional support we need. Power to Change has backed us with £10,000 and we are crossing our fingers that Sport England Places & Spaces will match that - especially now we have been given over 100 rewards by local businesses for you to buy SCROLL DOWN ON THE RIGHT -> -> -> ->

We have expert advisors telling us that we really could remodel the pool into a 25m length training pool fit for the whole community.  To do that we need to cover the costs of:

- expert technical support for reopening Ships & Castles safely and viably
- expert advice and technical support in improving Ships & Castles facilities with a 25m pool
- workshops and activities to involve young people in co-designing future facilities through workshops and activities
- match funding to help raise longer term finance and employ a coordinator

Our local head teachers tell us that already 90% of local 8 year olds cannot even tread water for 30 seconds - let alone swim. This is because through covid swimming lessons stopped and now Cornwall Council has closed our only public pool. We are a coastal town surrounded by water - Cornwall has the highest numbers of drownings per mile of coastline in the country. While several hotels in Falmouth have got pools, none are suitable for teaching young people to swim; none of them are accessible for disabled people. This is why it is so important that we get Ships & Castles back open as soon as possible. Please help us get the pool transferred to community ownership.

We are committed to giving young people voice and agency in shaping Falmouth's leisure facilities and our campaign has been guided by them.  

We are looking at several options of how best to re-open Ships & Castles and are keen to make sure all local voices are heard in considering those options.  To make sure these options are technically feasible and viable we need to buy expert advice and assistance.  Please give what you can. Thankyou!

This project successfully funded on 25th November 2022