Disco midnight swims set to bring visitors from afar

Stonehaven’s heated open-air swimming pool will be offering its famous aqua disco midnight swims for the seven weeks of the local school holidays.

The end of the school year brings high season for the pool which will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 7.30pm, and on Tuesdays and Fridays from 6.30am to 7.30pm.

Weekend hours are unchanged, with opening 10am to 6pm on both Saturdays and Sundays.

The ‘midnight swims’ start on Wednesday and will continue every Wednesday until August 16, with doors open at 9.30pm for the start time of 10pm.

Friends of the Pool chairman Pete Hill said: “With an additional week of school holidays this summer, the pool will have a seven-week high season, with seven, rather than six, midnight swims on offer.

“We are aware that interest has been building for these ‘aqua disco’ sessions and know that last year people travelled considerable distances to attend and stayed overnight in or near Stonehaven.

“We know that the pool is central to Stonehaven’s summer, but this year we have contracted a professional market research company to conduct a customer survey to demonstrate the importance – or otherwise – of the pool to the local economy. We would ask all customers who are approached on leaving the pool to agree to be interviewed.”

The survey has been commissioned by the Friends of Stonehaven Open Air Swimming Pool in partnership with Aberdeenshire Council and will provide “valuable information about pool customers and their attitudes to the pool”.