Friends Of Otley Lido

07765284078

TURN YOUR SOUND ON! We are excited - the Otley Victorian Christmas Fayre is this Sunday and we have been busy readying ourselves again for the great day. Our fabulous BEST VALUE MULLED WINE - Chutneys - Hyacinths- the return of our BIGGEST AND BEST Tombola prizes plus NEW THIS YEAR special pasteurised Apple Juice pressed from local apples from the Otley Chevin Orchard Project Come see us outside Casa Vitae Otley on Boroughgate who are kindly supplying our power again this year and hear our latest about our Auction of Promises to realise the remaining funds we need. See you on Sunday! 12pm - 6pm. A fabulous afternoon out is guaranteed and the weather is looking dry and cool. #Helpusmakeabigsplash and share widely.

Hoorah the day has arrived! The fabulous Otley Victorian Fayre is upon us. Come visit our stall outside Casa Vitae on Boroughgate. Fabulous homemade Chutney, Hyacinths, pressed local Apple Juice and the return of the exciting Tombola. And of course our World Famous mulled wine!!! See you soon peeps 12 till 18.00

Wouldn't it be lovely to be in this position! Great wishes to our friends at Beccles Lido and well done on ensuring safe opening for all. Stay Safe - Enjoy and Best wishes.

URGENT AND VERY DISTURBING - YOUR URGENT ATTENTION NEEDED TO HELP SAVE OTLEY LIDO - PLEASE READ AND COMMENT BELOW AND FORWARD AND SHARE WITH ALL YOUR CONTACTS WHILE WE MOUNT OUR PUBLIC OPPOSITION. The Friends of Otley LIdo have just heard shocking news from a BBC journalist that Leeds CIty Council are planning to sell our Otley Lido site to raise funds for the City Council and that SUCH A DECISION IS TO BE MADE AS EARLY AS NEXT Tuesday 7th January. This without ANY CONSULTAT...ION with us when we have a rolling exclusive agreement with the City Council and have advised them just before Christmas of our plans to raise the remaining funds we need for our project. Our hard working community group of volunteers have worked tirelessly to raise the funds we need and have plans in place to raise the remaining funds. Chair Friends of Otley Lido Leonie Sharp said: " We are deeply shocked to hear this and will mount all opposition we can to save our site for the restoration of our Otley Lido. We have been working tirelessly on our pans for the last 4 years and are as committed and determined as we were the day we launched in January 2016. Whilst we would have wanted to have realised the funds we need much earlier we have experienced overwhelming community support for our proposals but without any offer of funds from the City Council we have been having to raise the funds locally and from wider community throughout Leeds and further afield. But despite this - and the City Council know this, we have plans in place to raise the remaining funds we need with a determination this phase will be completed in the first half of this year. The very fact that the City Council have not even consulted with us is very disappointing and disrespectful to say the least given we have kept them up to date and informed throughout our ongoing exclusivity agreement with them. We are seeking an urgent meeting with our City Councillors before the Tuesday Executive Board meeting and will mount wide and very public opposition to save our community asset for our Otley Community." Watch this space for further information about our plans. Journalists can contact us through Chair Leonie Sharp on 07765284078 the agenda for the Council meeting is available here: https://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx and we will be making our representations of course https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-50984295

A wet weather weekend coming up - but never mind! This is a great opportunity for your young ones to put some colour into our colouring in competition. Totally free to enter - closes on Sunday 7th June 2020 - Their chance to win a 10.00 voucher for our merchandise in each one of the age categories and then to enter into the final and the public vote. As finalist they will win a bespoke T-Shirt with their image on it and chance to be used in our future marketing. ... Come on folks - get colouring in - share your creativity and have some fun! Download the images here: https://www.otleylido.com/colouring-competition

Beth and Richard from BBC Radio Leeds take part in the Friends of Otley Lido Coloring In Competition - Lots of fun and you can join us through entering the competition at www.otleylido.com free to enter - light hearted fun for young folk to get creative. LISTEN HERE:

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: These are extraordinary and unprecedented times and we want to wish all our supporters the warmest of wishes and good health . We will all come through this stronger and more resilient and even more community minded. Most of our efforts this spring were directed to finalising our plans - bringing in the remaining funds we need to secure our Otley Lido and in so doing holding plenty of events which obviously cannot proceed for public health reasons. As vol...unteers we also have day jobs in the local community many of us in public service roles. So in these times we need to be mindful about how we can meet as a committee which we usually do in person each week to plan our fundraising and funding efforts. Over the next coming days we will be reviewing how we can do this while working from home, observing social distancing and of course looking after our own families and loved ones. We are now switching to virtual meetings and using all the available technology we are able to use to continue our work to bring the Otley Lido to fruition. Please know that our commitment and dedication to the Otley Lido remains as ever and we will come through this stronger, more determined and committed than we already are. While you are 'working from home' you might have some time to help us deliver on our commitment to bring our Otley Lido to fruition. You might have skills to help us out now while we are also doing our own day jobs. So, for example, you might help out with our IT support, helping us ensure our website is looking really professional, helping us with our fundraising / funding bids and generally help on how we can continue to secure funding for the Otley Lido. You might also have ideas on how we can raise the funds we need whilst we can't hold public events. Please help! We need you to help us make a Big Splash! Get in touch - Pooling Community Power! Stay safe folks and good health. and please share to all your friends! With much love from: The Friends of Otley Lido Volunteers.

And the competition has commenced with Guest Entries by @RichardStead and @BethParsons91 of BBC Radio Leeds this morning. Great attempts for starters. Judge Chair Leonie Sharp says: We have two distinct syles here and it is very hard to declare an overall winner but I have come to my decision. Richard clearly you are into minimalism which is a clear artistic style but a little outdated now - your choice of colours is interesting and disturbing at the same time. Beth you...r attention to detail is to be commended and I like the fashion sense with the vibrant green swimming costume, very much on trend this season. Ultimately it came down to technique however and I had to mark you down slightly Richard because you have coloured outside the lines so Beth is the overall winner for this round. Congratulations Beth! You can enter too - its free and its fun and you could win 10.00 voucher for your choice from our Otley Lido Merchandise Head over to our website at www.otleylido.com for all the details. #staysafe and #havefun If you think we have judged @richardstead and @BethParsons91 too harshly please provide your votes here: by commenting online

NOT ANOTHER ONE! Yes folks you have been asked to vote in yet ANOTHER REFERENDUM but this one is the MOST IMPORTANT REFERENDUM this decade - forget Brexit - forget the Scottish Independence this is it - AND IT IS THIS THURSDAY 20TH FEBRUARY 2020 THE OTLEY NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN - What is the Neighbourhood Plan and why is it important to us? The Neighbourhood plan is a crucial community led planning document that enables our community to shape our planning decisions.... Because the Otley Lido is specifically built into it any important decisions around planning in Otley must be made with us in mind. Furthermore it embeds the committment by the City Council and the Town Council already made to us into future planning decisions - see pages 15, 19 and 54 if you don't want to read the full 116 pages. If you live in Otley you would have received a Poll Card looking like this on the image for you to vote on Thursday 20th February 2020, THIS THURSDAY! The polling stations for the referendum are: Polls open 7am to 10pm Otley Social Club Westgate Primary School, (Westgate Nursery) The Bridge Church Newall Church Hall Otley All Saints C of E Primary School As with all official polls you do not need to bring your polling cards with you to the polling stations. open 7am to 10pm YOU CAN READ THE ACTUAL PLAN HERE: https://www.leeds.gov.uk//1%20-%20Otley%20Neighbourhood%20 Please vote a big YES for the Otley Neighbourhood Plan so we are prioritised in local planning applications to make a BIG SPLASH for our community. Please share to all your friends eligible to vote in this important referendum #NeighbourhoodPlan #OurOtleyOurPlan #Otley @Otley BID @OtleyCouncil Otley - Our Town

The Friends of Otley Lido Fabulous Colouring and Drawing Competition We’re conscious we’ve provided fewer updates of late and thank you for your continued support. We hope that everyone is staying safe and well and our thoughts are with anyone that has been affected by the virus. Please be assured the FOOL team are continuing to work hard (remotely for now) to bring you a lido and we can’t wait to get back into the community when it is safe to do so. In th...e meantime, we’re launching a very exciting competition that can be enjoyed by all and provides a welcome distraction from all that is going on. We present to you a FOOL colouring and drawing competition! We have reworked our wonderful logo and our other lido memories images to create a template for you to complete in whatever way your creativity takes you! We’ve also provided a blank canvas so if you’re feeling particularly adventurous you can create your own ‘swimming’ themed submission. All the dowloadable PDF images and details are on our website here: https://www.otleylido.com/colouring-competition The competition has four age categories: 0-4 years 5-7 years 8-11 years 12+ years Each category winner will receive a 10.00 voucher to spend on our exclusive Otley Lido Merchandise (see https://www.otleylido.com/online-store) and the overall winner will receive an exclusive Otley Lido T-shirt featuring their image which shall also be used for future marketing! Entries are free and can be submitted by posting on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages using the hashtag #FOOLColouringCompetition, by email to [email protected] or by sending to 25 Bridge Avenue, Otley, LS21 2AA Entries close on 7th June 2020. Shortly after we shall share our choices with you via our website and our social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with details of how you can vote in an online poll for the overall Finalist. Good Luck everyone! AND PLEASE SHARE WITH ALL YOUR FRIENDS - Help us make a Big Splash!

URGENT UPDATE on the Otley Lido site. Further Press Release attached Please read and share widely! Followers may have seen our post on Friday in response to a BBC report that Leeds City Council are tomorrow (Tuesday 07.01.20) to consider several sites that they wish to sell including our beloved Otley Lido. This caused a wave of panic that our efforts to restore the site for our community were lost and that the site was to be sold. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Following interventi...Continue reading

THATS A HUGE FAT YES! Huge thanks to all who came out on a blustery cold winter day to vote in the referendum for the Otley Neighbourhood Plan. The results are in: 89% in favour of the plan on a decent turnout. The impact of this is that the Plan must be taken into consideration for future planning in our town - with all great positive impacts for us all. Obviously we are really pleased for our Otley Lido initiative to be firmly on the map in the plan. But there ...are so many other benefits for our town that will be progressed through this endorsement. Huge thanks most importantly to all the many committed volunteers, Elected Representatives, Councillors both present and past, Council Officers and of course the Leader of Otley Town Council, both past and present for making this happen and worked tirelessly over the last 6 years to deliver this important neighbourhood plan for our community.. THANK YOU!

We fielded frantic calls from the BBC today wanting us to make a public statement about the reopening of outdoor pools in the easing of COVID lock down as announced by the Government today. IF ONLY! Given our pool closed in 1993 and we are working hard to restore it we had to say it might be better to speak to a pool that is planning on opening this weekend - but wouldn't it be wonderful if we could this weekend to provide the much needed additional recreational ...facilities for our community! We referred them on to our good Friends up the road at Ilkley Lido. Good luck to all our friends in the outdoor swimming 'industry' planning to open up soon and we hope you all stay safe. We know so many of our members would love to again take that dip and may the weather improve for your grand reopenings. In the meantime we remain committed and determined and continue meeting and planning how we can reach our funding target despite the challenges we face in this time. Post sript: to get the BBC on their headlines we have got a clear media focus we use thanks to our committee being determined to keep up our profile despite the challenges!

Dear Followers and Supporters: thanks to the Wharfedale Observer for publicising the reassurances we have received from Leeds City Council over the weekend to confirm our project remains to have their support. The Otley lido site is NOT FOR SALE but our plans are not going to be built without the support of all the community. We need more volunteers and we need more financial support to reach our target of 55k to achieve all the studies we need to take our project to the pla...nning and building phase. Do you have skills you can volunteer to help us? We need people who can update our website, people who can provide financial guidance on our company accounts, people who can write funding bids, people with fundraising experience for example. And we need more funds, we have a third in the bank, another third pledged when we reach certain targets and we need to raise the middle third. Ideas we have are the Auction of Promises where people pledge lots to be auctioned off with all the funds gong to the Otley Lido. Hardisty and Co, Otley have offered to do a board promotion donating to they Otley lido. ( more details to follow) and we can do a general crowdfunder too. Do you have any ideas? Get in touch! And if you are a local business or supplier or an individual with a lot to pledge to auction off please get in touch and we'll talk it through with you. Great way to promote your business and support! In the meantime be reassured the lido is not for sale and as a small group of volunteers we continue to work tirelessly to bring this to reality for our community as a community asset. TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE A BIG SPLASH! please read below and share widely.