Community centre at Fort pool?
Wednesday 6th August 2008, 3:00PM BST.
FORT Regent’s derelict swimming pool could be turned into a huge community centre for the Island.
Two church groups are joining forces in the Island and have inquired about taking over responsibility for the building. They would like to turn it into a venue available to charity organisations, religious groups, support groups, events for children and conferences.
The pool was closed in December 2003 and has lain derelict for the past five years. The leaders of Jersey Community Church and the Abundant Life Church have now written to Treasury Minister Terry Le Sueur to explore the possibility of a long-term lease of the swimming pool.
Dr John Stewart-Jones, senior pastor of the Jersey Community Church, said that the two churches had been considering the partnership for around 18 months to enable them to make a bigger impact in the Island. ‘The amalgamation isn’t as a result of us wanting to use the Fort Regent pool,’ he said. ‘This is something that was in the process of happening, and as a result we are now looking for a larger venue. We want to be able to provide a greater facility and service to the community.’
• Picture: John Stewart-Jones (foreground) and Andrew de Gruchy, senior pastor fo the Abundant Life Church, who want to take over the Fort pool to create a new church. Picture by Richard Wainwright (00579603)
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Why do we need another church??? Heres an idea build something that the majority of people want!! Like an ice rink!!
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….why not a swimming pool?
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and can we have a purpose built gym for the Speical Gymnastics Club as well please !
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well, as long as no public money is put into this venture then I don’t see a problem.
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I was wondering what was going to happen to Fort Regent in its awful state of disrepair. However I do feel it should be something for everyone in the Island and Tourists alike, rather than some Church, which is not going to benefit everyone. What a shame.
We used to spend practically all weekend up the Fort when I was a kid, it was the best! Its a tragedy to see it in such a desperate state.
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i think we could something better than a
church to go here we need somthing to bring
the tourist back how about a place where we could see these big west end shows with out the need to travel
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Why are we not considering using the swimming pool site to do something far less radical, like a top class swimming pool?!
The building is potentially large enough to house a 50m 8 lane competition pool, making Jersey the envy of many other locations. What a fantastic training facility that would be for the Islands many water sport clubs and societies, let alone as a potential competition venue.
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Good luck, about time this got used for something.
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Perhaps Fort Regent could be sold to a leisure industry leader with a proven record of success and they would be allowed (with certain checks & balances) to develop it into, if not a world class, then a national class centre.
This would comprise a rejuvenated swimming pool with other leisure aspects and the Fort itself could have a better and broader range of appeal to islanders and visitors alike. Everytime I’ve seen a climbing wall put in place, children and adults alike flock to it.
At the moment, the only features in the Fort that are consistently used are the gym, (which is excellent) the childrens play centre, the martial arts clubs and the concert facilities.
Compared to what the Fort has delivered in the past and could do in the future, this is hugely under-utilised. On an island of this size, to have a resource of this size and potential being left to rot is indeed a crime and a sin. A church led community centre is a benign idea with altruistic foundations but commercially it cannot achieve what is needed to regenerate the Fort.
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If it goes ahead it will have the mother of all fonts.
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Why are we even considering a minority religious sect to be allowed to use what should be an asset for all the people of Jersey
Only a goverment like ours would have allowed the Pool to fall in to disrepair, the mind boggles as to there motive
Or was it closed to give tax-payers money to private enterprise ie the Aqua Splash ?
Once Vibert is voted out of the states with all his cahoots, lets revamp the pool and reopen it for the benifit of all the people of Jersey
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Prime location for a go kart rack.
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I have responded to the closure of this facility on a number of occasions, the 50m 8 laned competition pool is just one example of a far more appropriate use for this facility. I have also mentioned the conversion to an indoor extreem sports facility, to include a decent climbing wall, ice skating and an artifiacial ski/snowboard facility, using the pool depth for extra height/descent required; an artificial luge/bob sliegh run similar to those found all over the alps could also be included. What a waste of time and money creating yet another church, for the benefit of how many people, 50, maybe 100 tops? St James is just one example of many local religious facilities closed in the past due to lack of interest. If the states are unable to make the appropropiate saving elsewhere to fund its rejuvination (which seems to be the case in most things that the public want, whilst wasting it on unwanted white elephants), then let’s get some experts, proven in their field to do it for us.
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Don’t feel that it would be right for this public building, even in its current state, to be turned into a church for a small sector of the community.
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as I said befor what an ideal site for the Special Gymnastics Club to use for their new HQ since they are homeless due to the renovations of Mont A Labey School. Then they would not be facing closure because no one will committe to helping them in their hour of need !! also as stated above ideal location for go karts and other extreme sports much more suited to the island as a whole and not a minority of church goers arnt their enough churches that they can fill at the moment ? if not they why is there such a desperate plee for more ministers and why are the churches selling off property ie Zion for the Methodist and also I hear the catholic church have applied to sell of some of their churches as they dont have enough priests to cover the churches they have manages to keep open ! Surely the youth of our island deserve a bit of money spent on them ?
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I fear all the good (and not so good) ideas will fall at the first hurdle once the prospective owners get an idea of the costs associated with getting rid of all the asbestos in the old building….perhaps that is why it has been left alone for so long, our wonderful politicians not wanting yet another public humiliation when they declare the cost of the clean-up operation…. Call my cynical…..
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pathetic. what do we need a church for that will give our youngsters a lot to do. states get ure finger out and create a big ice skating rink uve seen the demand………. its sinfull u have let this deteriorate. shame on u all…………
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To be brutally honest, what was wrong with it beforehand?
Sure maybe it needed a little renovating, maybe a flume here and there, but they won’t get any more people going to it when it’s a church then they are now.
Which is none.
Fort Regent needs to stay as a Leisure Centre, not a community centre; it’s what it’s known for best. It will be much more popular if, instead of a Church, we had something that we can be proud of; something the islanders can be smug about for once!
Saying to someone in the UK “Jersey has a world class olympic-standard swimming pool with a wave machine!” or “Jersey has a permanent ice-rink/Quazar arena! (Quazar was amazing, God only knows why we gave that diamond in the rough up)” sounds slightly better than “Jersey has a church. It’s a nice church mind…”, wouldn’t you agree Ladies and Gents?
The Jersey Eye was/is a bust, the waterfront’s an eyesore and there is nothing for young people except getting hammered (and even that’s too s*dding expensive these days! We aren’t millionaires you know! Although the States like to think we are so they can tax us some more…)
Let’s do something good for once! Come on Jersey Government, pull your finger out and do something that we like for a change! Its a damn good time to do it too, what with elections coming up!
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I think it is a good idea to turn the old swimming pool into a community centre. For some reason the people who have commented before myself have only focused on the religious side of the plan. They have neglected to read about the community centre and charitable projects that will also be run from the old swimming pool. In my opinion a community centre is “something for everyone” rather than an ice rink (can/will everyone use an ice rink??) or another swimming pool so close to the aqua splash. Maybe it is time for the people of Jersey to start thinking of themselves as part of the community and helping, rather than just commenting from the outside.
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Why do we need another community centre, we have plenty!! Plus its not the older generation that need things to do, its the younger ones.
Why not turn it into something we DON’T already have on the island like an indoor winter sports centre, which could include sports like ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, snowpark for the exteme boarders and skiers and even a cross country skiing circuit, and for the younger ones who are not old enough to do that then an area for them to play in.
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To be honest lots of people have commented on what the Fort pool area should be used for. However there is nothing anyone can do about it because the States Gov has the monopoly, and what the States Gov want the States Gov get. It is pointless coming up with ideas for something to take its place when the States Gov doesn’t listen to you anyway. They never have and never will. As a young person in Jersey, like many others I’ve given up with the States. They have no intent to listen. As long as they do enough to pull the wool over our eyes that’s all they care about.
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