Beat the heat at Dukes Meadows

New wet play paddling pool now open

The new paddling pool at Dukes Meadows had its much anticipated opening on Saturday 5th August.  Delighted children showed their appreciation of the all the hard work that has gone into creating this fantastic outdoor play area by splashing around in the sunshine.

One parent said "I took my son to the new paddling pool this morning. What a great facility, with tiled pool, paved surrounds and mounded grassy areas for relaxing and sunbathing. (Most of the turfed areas are still fenced off to protect the new grass.)

"There is a small kiosk with ice cream, coffee and even egg & chips etc, staffed by a friendly team who also keep an eye on the pool.  Congratulations to Paul, Kathleen and all the Friends of Dukes Meadows supporters for this wonderful new addition to the Chiswick leisure scene."

The creation of the pool is the culmination of 6 years work by the local community through the Friends of Dukes Meadows. The £380,000 cost of the project was funded through the Friends social enterprises such as the Sunday Farmers & Fine foods Market and grants from the London Marathon Trust, Living Spaces, Garfield Weston Foundation, Brett Trust and Hounslow Council. Stanhope PLC donated trees and shrubs to landscape the area.

Kathleen Healy of Friend of Dukes Meadows said "We know that people are keen to start using the paddling pool so we are delighted to be opening this Saturday so that people can enjoy the pools, sand pit and cafe in the good weather.

"Some of the recently seeded grass areas will need to be roped off though, to protect them, and we would ask people to bear with us in this. Interestingly if you look at the photo taken when the old paddling pools were opened in 1926 (see right) you can see that back then they also had to fence off some of the grass."

Friends Chairman Paul Allen said “The construction of the pool is the culmination of 6 years work by local people. We are all very proud of what our community has achieved and very grateful to all the people who have helped us. It will be a great resource for local families.”

Drought restrictions do not affect the pool, as they will not apply to public pools.

August 5, 2006