Children Build A Swimming Pool in Limerick, Ireland 1967

Children in Limerick are building their own swimming pool.

On the site of what was formerly an apple orchard in the back garden of a house in a suburb of Limerick city, a group of children have spent the past four months digging the foundations for what will be their own swimming pool.

Architect Jim O’Dwyer who owns the property gave permission for the works to begin, and has also drawn up plans for the pool, which has a budget of £1,200 and is due to be completed in September.

Half of the money has already been raised through fundraising events such as a concert, a raffle for a transistor radio, and dances. The digging is hard work, but according to young volunteer Eugene,

It’s worth it, for what you’ll get out of it.

Thirteen year old Eileen Breen is also a volunteer and has helped raise funds. The idea for the swimming came evening when she was looking across at the trees in the orchard with her friends. The new pool will be a welcome addition for local children, who currently swim in the Corbally pool,

It’s awful.

The project has had the full support of the children’s parents from the start, as Mrs Butler explains,

When they showed us what they had done themselves I though then that ’twas time for the parents to move.

Another member of the parent’s committee is Alderman Patrick Kennedy of Limerick Corporation. While acknowledging that the corporation have failed the children by not providing enough facilities for them, he says that no assistance is required from officialdom,
We look upon it as a civic endeavour, which has got off the ground excellently.

A ‘Newsbeat’ report broadcast on 5 July 1967. The reporter is Cathal O’Shannon.