Buy your copy at the following locations :
- Cool Pool – Available online https://tullamoreoutdoorpool.com/shop/
- Midland Books, High Street, Tullamore, Offaly https://midlandbooks.ie
- Offaly History, Bury Quay, Tullamore and Bridge Centre Tullamore, Offaly https://www.offalyhistory.com
- Charile Byrne’s book shop Galway https://charliebyrne.ie/
- The Library Project Shop Temple Bar, Dublin https://www.thelibraryproject.ie/
- Kennys On-line bookshop Galway https://www.kennys.ie/
In 1934, a bold idea emerged at a Tullamore Urban Council meeting to build a public swimming pool for the town. Four years later, Tullamore opened one of Ireland’s first municipal pools, a six-lane outdoor pool complete with diving boards and changing rooms.
For over six decades, the pool was alive with activity. Children learned to swim, teenagers attempted daring dives, and families and friends gathered on long summer days. The 1950s saw large galas, where national and Olympic swimming and diving champions drew hundreds of spectators. The swimming club organised weekly lessons and competitive club nights. Swimming galas and lifesaving weeks became a regular feature.
Over its lifetime, the pool, the local council, and the swimming club faced financial pressures, water quality issues, and lifeguard shortages. By the 1970s, the pool was competing with heated pools elsewhere, and there were demands for an indoor heated pool in the town. This developed into a long campaign and fundraising effort.
The outdoor pool closed in 2000, and this book dives into the full story and memories of the pool, its champions and challenges, and the countless moments of joy it gave the community for more than sixty years.
and spent the summers of the
1970s at the local pool, not far
from his home. He later qualified
as a lifesaving instructor and
taught at lifesaving weeks at the
Tullamore and Birr swimming pools
in the early 1980s. He still swims
regularly and enjoys a variety of
water sports.