A SUBSTANTIAL grant will pay for vital repairs at Beccles Lido and takes the pool a stroke closer to its scheduled summer opening.It has been another positive week for the team at Beccles Lido Limited, as they managed to clean out the bottom of the pool and also received a cheque for �100 from the Caxton Club.

A SUBSTANTIAL grant will pay for vital repairs at Beccles Lido and takes the pool a stroke closer to its scheduled summer opening.

It has been another positive week for the team at Beccles Lido Limited, as they managed to clean out the bottom of the pool and also received a cheque for �100 from the Caxton Club.

And the good news was completed with the confirmation that the team had acquired a �25,000 grant from the Suffolk Environmental Trust.

Suzanne Gibbons, of Beccles Lido, said: “Each grant completes another part of the jigsaw of funding required to save the pool and re-open as Beccles Lido, and boosts the valuable funds that we are able to raise ourselves at our regular events and with our Beccles Lido Lottery.”

Volunteers helped remove a thick layer of sludge from the bottom of the pool, which had been left after a crew from Beccles Fire Station recently emptied the water.

Beccles Lido volunteer coordinator, Graham Norgate, said: “We had to fall back on good old-fashioned methods to clean up the sludge, which was more like a river bed than a swimming pool. We brought in a low-tech bucket on a rope and a team of fit young volunteers who worked up a good sun tan shovelling the sludge and hauling it up out of the pool.

“It is brilliant to have such a team of committed people who are keen to see the Lido open again this summer.”

This month's lottery winners are: first prize, Megan Arnold, �133; second prize, Jane Cudlip, �79; and third prize, Roland Blunk, �53.

Lottery forms can be downloaded from www.beccleslido.com, which also has details of the various forthcoming events, including a classical musical evening at Sotterley Hall next Saturday. Lottery application forms are also available in Beccles from Beccles Travel, Florian's Sandwich Bar and Caf�, Gary's Discount, Quayside Conservatories, Saxon Alternative Therapy Centre, The Stationery Shop, RazorArt, and Ellough Park Raceway.