Dear Friends,

I hope you have all had a good summer I do believe it is the worst weather we have ever had! I wanted to keep you updated with the current position at the Lido. To date the council have not resubmitted the planning application for the car park, however all the indications we are getting suggest that it is still in their improvement proposals, which still makes it a priority for us to fight.

The council have confirmed they have awarded the contract to a company to build the rain shelters which we have been campaigning for for years now, the start date for work has not been set but they assure us it will be soon.

There have been a number of problems with the splashed this year including cleaning as well as at times it not working at all. I would like to thank David Seaman who has highlighted this time and time again to the Council. I have had site meetings with David and then given a written report to the Council on the state of this facility. At first they denied that it was not working, however they eventually accepted this and have done some remedial work on it, but there is still a long way to go before it is in full operational order and we hope that they will get this sorted out properly over the coming months. We will of course keep mentioning this at our meetings with the Council.

We are part of the Management Advisory Group (MAG) along with the Railway, local residents groups and other interested parties, and of course the Council. It will be the MAG AGM on 11th October and this is an opportunity to raise any issues you have. if you have any questions you would like us to raise could you please pop it on an e mail to us and I will make sure that we get back to you with an answer.

We are still phoneless I will get this resolved this week and get the new phone number published on our webpage ASAP.

Thanks as always for your support I hope we can all meet up for a meeting in the winter.

Vicky Brownlee
Chair FORL

Thanks Jen for this picture of some rubbish left at Ruislip Lido……or could it be modern art?

With seven huge green bins placed at the top of Willow Lawn and all empty, it is a wonder why Lido visitors don’t use them.

Please clear your rubbish away properly.

Disappointingly only four turned out for the litter pick. However due to the efforts of the Beaver Scouts the preceding Wednesday and the recent mixed weather, the Lido litter index wasn’t too bad so the four managed get the area neat and tidy.

Unfortunately after the weekend the litter was replenished, as seen in this photo at 7:30am on Monday 11th, to continue the never ending cycle of ‘you drop, we pick’.

We held our AGM last month at the Lido and I would like to thank those who attended it was a fabulous turn out and much appreciated. We would like to thank all those who gave prizes for our raffle and bought ticket in aid of the British Legion we had a great response and it was agreed to all that we would round the amount we give to £120.

The current Committee were voted in position unanimously, with the exceptions of both Gordon DALLAS, and David SEAMAN who stood down. I would like to thank both of them on behalf of the Friends for their assistance and commitment to the Lido and am delighted they both continue as members and are still there to give their support and experience in the future. David especially has made a difference by taking on the Splash Pad and new Toilet block projects. He was one of the founding members of the Friends and is still a driving force in much that we do.

As part of the Chairman’s update Pat Tavener submitted a report to the environmental agencies investigations around the water level and the feasibility of the car park proposals. This was incredibly informative and it would appear the current water levels cannot be raise and therefore any alterations at the Lido will have to be done without causing a rise in the water level. This would have an effect on the height and flood risk to the proposed car park. A detailed summary of this report was taken by local reporter James Cracknel of the Gazette who published this in last month’s paper. To date the Council have not resubmitted the planning application. We will continue to monitor this as the water level and flood risk is only one of many objections that we have against this proposal.

Staffing was raised as a concern by members, we will continue to highlight this with the Council and have asked for a senior manager to attend the Management Advisory Group to explain the lack of a dedicated member of staff. Please if you see any Anti Social Behaviour, Fly Tipping or anything else which concerns you report it to the appropriate authority the Police or the Council but can you e mail us with the reference number so that we can keep a record.

I have apologised to the Friends as the phone number is out of action, I have tried to get the same number restored but this cannot be done a new number will be published shortly.

We are holding a LITTER PICK DAY on the 9th JULY at 0900hrs meeting in the Lido carpark. These have always been good days and are an opportunity for us to get together and give something back to the Lido. We will be meeting for a coffee at 11am at the Waters Edge, so please join us there if you are unable to Litter Pick all are welcome.

Finally a big thank you to the Committee for all there hard work in the past year.

Vicky

With all the problems people bring to the Lido it is easy to forget why we love it so much, here are a couple of reasons why we do……(many thanks Jen for the Iris image)

Vandals in the shape of “picnickers” struck last night at the Lido, they ripped apart the woven fencing which guards a nesting area between the main beach and the dog beach and tore down shrubs. With the wood they built a huge bonfire and BBQ on the dog beach which they left burning through the night, it was still smouldering when we arrived at the beach at 7.15 this morning.

We tried to dampen down the fire as much as possible but the vandals seemed to have built a fire pit so even though there were just smoking embers on the surface the ground was still burning hot and the coals beneath the surface were still red and spitting.

We were wondering what they might have been on the menu for this feast, then we saw duck feathers on the dam by the green huts, it looks like a duck had been caught and feathers plucked. The bottle of tomato ketchup can be seen in the photo which shows the bonfire after it was dampened down.

The Police and Fire Brigade were notified, the good old Fire Brigade had cleared away all the coals

• No single person responsible for the lido and its welfare
• No cover for the lido after 4.30pm
• Council not taking responsibility for anti-social behaviour within the lido environs
• Faulty Splash Pad
• Disabled toilets – difficulties with access to the toilets
• Toilet doors with faulty locks
• No soap dispensers in the toilet block
• Faulty hand driers in the toilet block
• External lights still faulty
• Water quality and water level
• Rain/sun shelters
• Extra litter bins

The FORL are continually chasing the LB Hillingdon with all the issues listed above, we will keep you updated on any progress.

� If you have any comments you would like us to reaise with the council, please leave a comment below.

A POPULAR beach-side children’s play area was closed off for the second successive bank holiday weekend because of an electrical fault.

Ruislip Lido’s “spalsh pad” continued to be out of action during an extremely busy holiday period that left children and parents alike high and dry.

Hillingdon Council said it had failed to repair the damage caused to underground cabling when new toilet facilities were installed in January.� � Read more in the Ruislip & Eastcote Gazette� by James Cracknell

These bags of rubbish were left at the beach area less than five foot away from the big green bins which were empty.

For the sake of all the lido users please throw your rubbish away or better still take it home!