AN ANONYMOUS donation of £20,000 towards work on Chagford Swimming Pool means the facility will open this year after all.

Chagford Swimming Pool Committee is optimistic it can now find the extra funds to re-line the pool after a leak was found during an inspection in April.

The committee's publicity officer Amanda Statham said the £20,000 gift was wonderful news and with other donations amounting to over £5,000, the formidable task of raising £35,000 was looking a good deal easier.

'People have been very generous and we are very very happy,' she said. 'With a bit of luck and good will we shall be able to open our lovely pool this summer.'

Extensive work was undertaken at the outdoor pool last year including solar pool covers, a new plant room, filtration and pipe work, decking and paving, but it did not include re-lining as it was hoped this would wait a year or two.

However, when a leak was found in April it was decided that it was not feasible to open unless the pool was properly lined, because it would have meant chemicals being released into the nearby river at an unacceptable level.

Mrs Statham said the raising of the water table and flooding over the winter months had contributed to the large leak.

'We were very despondent realising that £35,000 was a great deal to raise but things are now looking a lot better,' she said.

'A swimming pool is not a cheap thing to keep going but the community wanted it to stay and it has been a community effort to get it back into shape. Hopefully the pool will open again at the end of July.'

Any more donations will be welcome and the committee are also looking for voluntary lifeguards and first aiders.

l A prize giving was held in Endacott House, Chagford, last week which was the culmination of the Chagford Swimming Pool Short Story Competition.

The event was attended by Roger Deakin, author of the best-selling book 'Waterlog' in which he describes his fascinating trip around Britain swimming in all manner of outdoor places including rivers, sea and open air pools.

Chagford's pool is one of those mentioned in the book and was listed in Roger Deakin's top ten outdoor pools in a national newspaper recently.

The winner of the first prize in the story competition, which attracted 113 entries, was Clare Seal from Starcross who read her story during the evening.