The last touches at the end of the season and the first at the beginning of the season are for the ice buffers. The pressure cushions along the edge of the pool prevent an ice surface from causing damage to the pool in an overly frosty winter. “They come out and then the water is drained,” says Patrick Eick, manager of the Schloßparkbad. This is how every spring cleaning begins in all Bremen bathrooms. The expression “drain water” creates a false image. “There is no stopper in our pools, it has to be pumped out,” explains Eick. This can take a few days because the pool must not empty too quickly. Eventually, a few tons of weight disappear with the water and a rapid loss of pressure damages the pool.
In general, the first look is at the condition of the pool after the winter, always hoping not to discover any damage. “But we actually always take stock of upcoming repairs in the fall, after the outdoor pools have closed,” says Eick. After all, larger repair work requires a certain amount of lead time, also because external service providers are called in for this. “It’s not like we call them on Monday and then they’re there on Tuesday.”
Ducks use baths as winter quarters
This year, for example, some new plastic foil is due in the Schloßparkbad, which was used to modernize the original tiled swimming pool. They have to be made specifically. Where there is nothing to be repaired, the empty pool is cleaned of the residue of winter. The classic way to tackle the green stuff that forms in autumn is with a scrubber. “Nothing is added to the water for the winter, which is why plants settle there and why we can simply pump it out into the canal in the spring,” says Eick. It is not uncommon for some ducks to make the outdoor pools their winter quarters.
Repair work on paving and playground equipment is also part of the preparation for the season.
Photo: Frank Thomas Koch
Spring cleaning is also required around the pools, basically no different than in the garden at home, just on a large scale: joints have to be cleaned, hedges have to be trimmed and lawns have to be repaired. On the almost four hectare area of the Schloßparkbad, a dedicated gardener is busy maintaining the greenery all year round.
For the swimming masters, the technology is the main focus: the filter systems of the circulation pump need their annual basic cleaning and the pumps and compressors also need to be maintained. Service providers from specialist companies are involved in this.
Event planning is also part of the preparation for the season
And then there are the changing rooms, cupboards and lockers. “They are also completely cleaned, disinfected and repaired where necessary,” says Eick. Special tasks add to the list every year: sometimes the sand on the playgrounds needs to be replaced, sometimes the table tennis tables need special attention. The plan for this year is to set up a climbing offering. This should help a little with the dismantling of the large, outdated water slide. There will no longer be a replacement this season because such slides are always very complex and custom-made. The new giant slide with a length of 84 meters is not expected to be in place until the 2025 outdoor pool season.
That’s why Eick’s team has planned various events for this outdoor pool season, including family days, regular pool games with animation and an ass bomb contest. As a special highlight, a Caribbean pool party is scheduled to start at the end of July.
The children’s slide in the castle park pool also needs attention. The large 80-meter slide, however, had to be dismantled.
Photo: Frank Thomas Koch
In addition, there is the ambition to have all outdoor pools ready to go from May 1st this year. “When we open exactly depends on the weather, but we are going into standby mode, so to speak,” says Eick. If there are already a few warm days in May, individual pools could open immediately. And at the end of the season, extensions are being kept open until well into September, so that swimming fun in the open air will still be possible several weeks after the end of the summer holidays, if the temperatures cooperate.
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2024-04-10 03:50:06
#Preparations #swimming #season #Bremen #underway
