After years of hard work, Ashok was delighted to finally be able to re-open Guisborough's swimming pool. For eight years, Ashok has been campaigning to keep the pool, after plans were revealed by the previous Conservative-Lib Dem council to close it. Under the new Labour Administration, not only is the future of the pool secured but £300,000 has been spent on its refurbishment.

Ashok said “This is the culmination of a dream for me and for all the users of the Guisborough Pool.  It was eight years ago when I first visited the pool and I was appalled at how run-down it was, but also how popular it was with local swimming clubs, local schools and townspeople”

“That is what led me to begin the fight to get the pool improved, and to this end I formed and led the Guisborough Pool Steering Group which campaigned for this.  We had a long road to travel – including on one occasion a veiled threat that the pool may be closed altogether – but we have got there in the end, thanks to the help we received from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and especially from Cllr George Dunning, the Council Leader Cllr Sheelagh Clarke, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture, and officers of the Council and Tees Valley Leisure”

 “The investment at Guisborough has included a newly improved reception and foyer area, improved changing rooms, cubicles and lockers, new poolside surrounds, the refurbishment of the internal roof and a modernisation of the pool's cleansing and filtration system to improve water quality – works that will make the pool a fitting leisure centre and community asset for the 21st century”.

“This is the beginning of a new dawn for Guisborough and for Guisborough Pool.”