Regular users of the city’s two public swimming pools are finding plenty of company lately, and recreation officials are happy to accommodate.

“(On) Monday, the pool was crowded,” said Marion Broaddus, 91, who has been a regular at the Davan pool at the Fred C. Wescott Building for decades. “I’ve always been a swimmer,” she said. “I think I was one of the first people to ever use the pool.”

The outdoor Warren pool, off Main Street behind the former Warren Memorial Library, gets a lot of attendance in the hotter periods, too, according to Andrew McBrady, assistant to the director of community service development. McBrady, who manages both pools, said there is an average of 75-100 people visiting the Warren pool from 1:30-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

And on July 22, when temperatures soared toward 100 degrees, McBrady said, the Warren pool stayed open longer, only closing at 8 p.m. because the sun was going down.

Just in case, city officials opened up the Westbrook Middle School that day, to serve as a cooling station for those who needed it.

“We had no takers, but we opened it up for the vast majority of the day,” said Greg Hamilton, Westbrook’s emergency management director.

City Councilor Mike Sanphy, a retired police officer and firefighter, said he appreciates the city taking extra steps to offer help.

“I’m glad to see that happen,” he said. “Some people suffering in the heat have no place to go.”

Despite the increased usage, Westbrook Director of Community Services Maria Dorn said McBrady and the pool’s lifeguards know how to plan for more swimmers.

“They’ve always got more than adequate coverage,” she said.

McBrady said one thing the pools are doing differently this year to make things run more efficiently is to hold all classes, such as swimming lessons and water exercise classes, at the indoor Davan pool. McBrady said the 45-minute classes were at the mercy of the weather when held at the Warren pool. That was a problem in the summer of 2008, he said, when July’s rainfall set records.

“We kind of got hammered on that one,” he said.

The Davan pool made headlines in April when the city laid off longtime pool director Lisa Wohl, 52, angering many users of the pool, including Broaddus and a large contingent of senior citizens who use the pool regularly for exercise.

Mayor Colleen Hilton and City Administrator Jerre Bryant said at the time that the move would save the city money, but later rehired her as head lifeguard, putting her back on the job on July 11 after users and city councilors, including Sanphy, lobbied the city to reinstate her.

Sanphy said this week that he was pleased to see public safety in the capable hands of people like Wohl and McBrady.

“The pool’s one of those things that needs undivided attention,” he said.

Broaddus said that she and her fellow regulars are grateful, especially during the hot weather, for the pool.

“(It’s) a very well-used pool at all times,” she said. “It’s a tradition that nobody wants to give up.”

Swim instructor Lauren Blais reaches for one of her students,
5-year-old Ava Duguay, as the youngsters get used to jumping into
the deep end of the indoor Davan pool inside the the Fred C.
Wescott Building Wednesday morning.
Recreation Department employee Corey Adriance ignores the clouds
this week that threaten attendance at the Warren pool to
concentrate on cleaning.