{"id":17546,"date":"2019-07-10T09:53:05","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T08:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=17546"},"modified":"2019-07-10T09:53:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T08:53:06","slug":"council-launches-poolpods-for-leisure-centres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2019\/07\/council-launches-poolpods-for-leisure-centres\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Launches Poolpods for Leisure Centres"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Alderman John Smyth was joined by Jayne Moore from Sport NI, Robert Heyburn from Department for Communities, Andrea Herron from Disability Sport NI, Council Officers and local resident Gareth McNeilly to launch the new pool pods at Antrim Forum and Valley Leisure Centre. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(L-R) Jackie Fulton, Antrim Forum Manager; Ellen Boyd, Customer Accessibility Officer, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council; Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Alderman John Smyth; Robert Heyburn, Department for Communities; Matt McDowell, Head of Leisure, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council; Andrea Herron from Disability Sport NI; Jayne Moore from Sport NI and local resident Gareth McNeilly launch the Poolpod at Antrim Forum<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Poolpod is a platform lift developed for the London\n2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and is transforming access to swimming pools\nfor people with disabilities and restricted mobility.  The Council recently received \u00a330,000\ninvestment from Disability Sport NI through the Department for Communities and\nSport NI, which allowed for the installation of a Poolpod in Antrim Forum.  Furthermore, to ensure increased accessibility\nacross the Borough, Council approved funding for a second Poolpod which was\nrecently installed in Valley Leisure Centre.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Alderman John\nSmyth commented, \u201cI would like to thank Department for Communities, Sport NI and\nDisability Sport NI for their generous contribution towards this Poolpod and\nI\u2019m delighted that Council has decided to approve spend for the installation of\na second Poolpod at the Valley Leisure Centre.  This fantastic piece of technology will\ncontribute to making our leisure centres more accessible for all users.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin O\u2019Neill, Chief\nExecutive Officer of Disability Sport NI welcomes the funding, \u201cThe facilities\nthat have received the Poolpods have shown a great commitment to improving\naccess and providing their staff with disability inclusion training.  This project is part of the wider District\nCouncil Disability Sports Hub Project which recently saw a significant\ninvestment into disability sports equipment in every council area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sport NI Chief\nExecutive Antoinette McKeown added, \u201cThese new Poolpods are the latest example\nof how the Active Living: No Limits Action Plan is enhancing the lives of local\npeople with a disability through sport.  The\nmany benefits of an active lifestyle to our physical, emotional and mental\nwellbeing should be open to everyone here, and Sport Northern Ireland is proud\nto be working with our partners to create more inclusive opportunities for\nlocal communities to enjoy, engage and excel in sport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local resident, Gareth McNeilly commented, \u201cIt\u2019s\ngreat to see these new Poolpods being introduced to help people with limited\nmobility gain safe access to the swimming pool.  As a competitive disabled golfer I know the\nexcellent benefits both physically and mentally of sport and exercise and I\u2019m\nsure these new pods will encourage more people with limited mobility to\nconsider swimming as a safe and enjoyable form of exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on the Poolpods\nand accessibility in our leisure centres visit www.antrimandnewtownabbey.gov.uk\/accessibility<\/a>\nor alternatively ask a lifeguard in Antrim Forum or the Valley Leisure Centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Alderman John Smyth was joined by Jayne Moore from Sport NI, Robert Heyburn from Department for Communities, Andrea Herron from Disability Sport NI, Council Officers and local resident Gareth McNeilly to launch the new pool pods at Antrim Forum and Valley Leisure Centre. Poolpod is a platform lift developed for … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17546"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17548,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17546\/revisions\/17548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}