Women Only Swim update: there were 8 fair swimmers moving gracefully up and down the lanes at 9.15. It looked very relaxing.

Though I was actually upstairs at the time, gripping that bar with the treadmill on incline. I thought you had to hang on to avoid falling over backwards at speed. Better see about improving my technique.

BTW, I use the treadmill rather than jogging outside because I keep tripping up or twisting my ankles on uneven ground. Also there is nothing to hang on to for the hills. Much nicer to be outside if you can manage it.

For a trial period of six months from November 2013 to May 2014, Forest Hill Pools will open from 6am, Monday to Friday. Lewisham Council is hopeful that the number of people using the pool and gym in the early mornings will mean the early opening becomes permanent. The main pool and gym will be available for general use and the café will open from 6.30am.

I have just been reading through these posts. Whilst I agree with some of these comments, I also think we should acknowledge how brilliant it is to have a leisure centre on our doorstep that is so busy. I for one absolutely love the fact that my children can learn to swim in their local pool, that it feels like a strong centre of the community and I can swim myself in the evening. It feels like a real privilege.

Was about to head to the pools at 4:30pm yesterday, but oh no, women only from 5pm.
SO annoying.

Perhaps the pools should post a link on this forum when they change the pool timetable.
We've been caught out quite a few times turning up to swim only to find its water hockey/school swim etc etc...

Hello,

We change our timetables 3 times a year, in January, April and then September. The pool timetable also changes for the school holidays, however the main change on this timetable is the removal of schools and the morning sessions being replaced by crash courses and the afternoon sessions becoming general swims.

We will be launching a new timetable in the new year, so please check our website for any changes.

If you would like to know anything else please let us know

Regards
Fusion Lifestyle

It would be good to have the timetable publsihed on the website that shows the sessions for each day on one page for the main and childeren's pools. This provides an easy snapshot of what is happening for the week, rather than the confusing filter option currently on the site.

Yes, please bring back the timetable of coloured blocks! The current one is impossible to read. I've resorted to taking a photo of the coloured one with my phone when I'm at the pools and using that; it may be a bit fuzzy but I can see sessions at a glance.

agreed!
This timetable is so confusing!

I understand and (theoretically) applaud the reasoning behind an online 'dynamic' timetable. It can be constantly updated to reflect any last minute changes and so can be aways up to date. Although certainly not as pretty as the PDF download version (which I also miss), it should be permanently accurate.

Imagine my surprise then, this evening, when I checked the timetable and postponed my pool visit until after 8pm when Saxon Crown would be over and it would just be adult lane swim. But no...

Only three lanes for swimming with half the pool taken over by boom box aquacise or something similar. Absolutely no problem with such activities and I do partake, but it was NOT on the timetable.

I was told by staff that this was a last minute change which had been required by the council / NHS.

So, there was enough time to tell the participants and the instructor to turn up but not, it seems, keep the super dynamic timetable updated.

Some comment or feedback from Fusion would be good to have here please?

This happens at a lot of swimming pools... So when the leisure centre manager came to give us a speech about the imminent opening of the pools, I asked him this very question: whether customers would be kept informed about lanes availability or restrictions before going in, and he said we certainly would be!

Hello,

The format of the timetable has been changed to make it more accessible. It can be downloaded as an app, so can be accessed on the go. The new timetable is also designed so those with visual impairment can read it easier, for some reason PDF documents are not compatible with the readers people with visual impairments use.

As the timetable is in a new digital format it makes it far easy for us to change. The PDF document was static and very difficult to change. It's unfortunate that the NHS/Council session was missed off the timetable. But the idea of the timetable is to be more dynamic so last minute changes can be made.

Regards
Fusion Lifestyle

Thanks for the feedback Fusion Lifestyle.

However, please can I stress that not everyone has a device that can use an 'app' or even knows what an app is!!!!!

The PDF format is easier for MOST people to use and it would be very helpful if this was ALSO made available on the website. How often are there really any major changes to the fixed timetable? You could also make a note of any changes to the PDF version somewhere else on the site?

One other thing, the new format may be ACCESSIBLE but it's not USABLE!

I find the new timetable perfectly accessible (and usable) from my desktop - no 'apps' required. I wasn't very fond of the old pdf version, which I had to zoom into to read and which even then wasn't very legible with its complicated colour background (and I have no identified visual impairments, apart from refractive errors corrected by spectacles.) And it was sometimes out of date.

I've been using the pools regularly for several months now, and really appreciate having such lovely facilities so near by. But it really irritates me to see so many people walking around the changing area in outdoor shoes. There are very clear signs telling people to either remove their shoes or use the shoe covers that are always available whenever I go, but a large majority of people seem to completely ignore the signs. The few people who do remove their shoes on the way into the changing area invariably seem to put them on again before leaving the changing area after they've had their swim.

I've never seen a member of staff challenge anyone wandering around the changing area in dirty outdoor shoes, and have asked on more than one occasion why the rules don't seem to be enforced, but have never had a sensible response. There were even two pushchairs in the changing area when I used the pool at lunchtime today.

It's not too difficult to take your shoes off when you go into the changing area, and to sit on one of the benches to put them back on again when you've finished - easier still to use the blue shoe covers.

Being a natural law-abiding type, I now regularly comply with this rule, including carrying my shoes and socks out with me after I've changed back into my ordinary clothes and sitting on the bench outside to put them on. As however I have said upthread, I don't see the point of the rule or think that it is necessary. I suggest that most users think the same and that this why they ignore it.

I assumed that the rule was in place to stop people from bringing in dirt and germs from their outside shoes which would then be transferred onto the clean feet of swimmers who had finished their swim and used the showers. I've seen people leaving muddy footprints on many occasions and really don't want to have to pick my way round other people's dirt when I'm either walking to the pool from the changing room or on my way out after a shower. If the management are happy for people to tramp dirt into the changing area, I don't see why they bother to have the signs up.

I've never noticed muddy footprints - wet ones possibly. I would need scientific evidence to convince me that the risk to foot health of 'dirt and germs' in the changing area is other than infinitesimal. I've wandered barefoot from time to time all my life in various different places - changing rooms, beaches, grassy lawns, fields, on tarmac - and have never come to any harm.