Hanmer Springs pools

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32977, 25 July 1972, Page 12

Hanmer Springs pools

Sir, —I was pleased to hear that an appeal is being made for the thermal springs at Hanmer. As chairman of the Pools Development Association could Mr A. D. Mclvor please furnish details of the plans? I and many others, have never advocated mixed bathing. I consider that the men’s pool should be for men and boys, and the girls’ pool should be for women and girls. As men and boys enjoy swimming in the nude why cannot this be so? The women’s pool could be enlarged and they, too, would be able to enjoy the same privilege.—Yours, etc., TOURIST, OAMARU. Oamaru, July 12, 1972. [Mr A. D. Mclvor, chairman of the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pool Development Association, replies: “If Tourist, Oamaru’ would be good enough to write to the association, Hanmer Springs, we would be very pleased to forward a copy of the plan. We must first point out that a new pools complex must be built as the old pools are to be closed. No enlargement or improvement would meet the Health Department’s requirements. The proposed complex has been designed after full consideration of the wishes of a large cross-section of bathers, and, of course, has had to take into account the limited supply of thermal water. There will be an external pool arrangement with a hot (passive) pool, a warm (active) pool, and a warm pool for small children, serviced by dressing sheds, and paved and grassed areas for sunbathing. In the pools building will be 12 spout pools for those who want

privacy or prefer to bathe in the nude. Special attention has been given to the needs of the physically handicapped. There are no steps except to enter the pools, and four of the spout pools will cater for paraplegics. The pools building will contain a solarium for the enjoyment of the winter sun, and a further facility will be four sunlamp rooms.”]