The Mayor will officially open it at 9am, season ticket holders can get in and have their first swims of the season from 9.30am before the pool opens to the public at 10.30am.

The 2Swim4Life 24hour swim challenge that is taking place in half the pool starts at 9.30am and ends 24 hours later on Sunday morning. The challenge is set to raise thousands for Help for Heroes, both through the sponsorship efforts of those taking part and the sale throughout the day of merchandise and raffle tickets. Please come along and enjoy an early season swim, show your support of the Lido, the swimmers and the charity. It’ll be a great day for all!

The 2Swim4Life event is shaping up to be a fantastic opener to what we hope will be a busy and successful season for the Lido. During the day, the event will be held in half the pool, whilst the remaining half is for everyone else to enjoy. Then when the pool closes to the public in the evening, it will continue on through the night using the whole pool and the 24 hour swimmers will be joined by those aiming for the lesser (although still amazing) 12 hour overnight swim.

Throughout the event, Help for Heroes merchandise will be available to purchase along with raffle tickets, and we hope the event raises a fantastic amount of money for the charity.

If anyone has an hour or two to spare to help make teas and other hot drinks, count lengths and generally lend a hand, please make yourselves known to us either via email, or on the day. We especially need a bit of extra help in the wee small hours, so any night owls amongst you who are looking to while away a few hours being useful, we’d love to see you!

In addition there are Student and Family tickets available. Full details and an application form can be found at www.guildfordlido.co.uk

We are pleased that flexibility of pricing and sessions has been introduced and hope that the lane sessions will allow everyone to make the very best of the swimming facilities the lido offers throughout the entire season, even on those hot, busy days!

Available for private functions Fri-Sun evenings.

On Saturday and Sunday the pool will be open 10am-6.30pm.  The carpark is likely to be very busy, so why not consider coming by train or park up at Spectrum and saunter down to the Lido.  Both are within easy walking distance of the pool.

However and whenever you visit the Lido, we hope you have a wonderful, sunny, swimming time.

Friday 9th July, Early Morning Swimming will run from 6.30am – 8.00am and Public Swimming will be available from 12.00pm – 6.30pm.

Wednesday 14th July, Public Swimming will be available from 12.30pm – 6.30pm

Wednesday 21st July, Lane Swimming will run from 8.00am – 9.30am and Public Swimming will be available from 12.30pm – 6.30pm.

Having enjoyed an early swim yesterday morning from 6.30am, and still there at 8am in what by then had become a virtually empty pool, once the early birds had left to get to work, I revisited in the afternoon and the place was playing host to a totally different bunch of several hundred sun-loving, Lido patrons. It was great to see the transformation and also to see everything swinging along so smoothly despite the technical problems that had hit over the hottest weekend of the year so far.

Much as I loved seeing the place buzzing and neither hubby nor me minded bobbing around in the midst of happy families, yesterday was the day when I really appreciated the beauty of the early sessions, as I’d still been able to enjoy my “proper” swim earlier on. 

If you love the Lido and want a quieter swim than when the pool’s swarming on sunny days, try the early sessions, you won’t be disappointed. Monday and Friday sessions run from 6.30am – 9am and if you get in around 8am the commuters have been and gone and the pool’s yours…at least until everyone else finds out how brilliant it is.

(Wednesday sessions run 8am-10am and are included in the season ticket price, the Monday & Friday sessions cost extra but are worth every penny & season ticket holders get them cheaper, or all sessions can be paid for individually or in blocks of 12 for extra discounts)

Janetta

No reason not to continue loving the Lido even if the summer that’s threatening to break out in June, doesn’t materialise. Now you’ve found it, why wait till the next scorching weekend to come back?

For details see http://www.thegoodtimeguide.com/newsflash/?id=34

 If you know someone who doesn’t have a TGTG Card and would like to take advantage of a range of offers (not just for students) around Guildford, visit http://www.thegoodtimeguide.com/static/offers.asp

The guys at TGTG will be helping us to promote the Lido throughout the season through their newsletters, website and general all round good efforts.  Brilliant, we’re pleased to be working with you!

Photo petermerry.co.uk

No, this isn’t a plug for Aldi or Lidl, it’s a plug for buying in bulk at the Lido.
A week into the season and we want to make sure everyone gets the best deal on their swims this year and first off the season-tickets are offering the best value, closely followed by the – new for this season – blocks of 12 swims.

Prices for the 2010 season-tickets are:

Adult: £102.40

Junior/Student: £76.80

Senior Citizen: £51.20

Family (4 people, max 2 adults): £322.60

The season ticket covers all swim sessions with the exception of the new early morning swims on Mondays and Fridays, which can be bought at a discount for season-ticket holders. In addition, the Wednesday evening sessions are available only to season-ticket holders. If you’re over 50 and have a Prime Time card (available from Spectrum) there are further savings on the season-ticket price, call 01483 444888 for more details.

To check swimming times download and print your 2010 Timetable

If you don’t fancy a season-ticket, the discounted blocks of 12 swim sessions will cost you:

Early morning swimming sessions only:
Non season ticket holders £45.10 (12 for price of 11)
Season ticket holders £36.90 (12 for price of 9)

Any time sessions
£56.10 (12 for price of 11)

So however you decide to pay for your Lido swimming this season, it pays to buy in bulk and buy early to maximise your use of the pool, whatever the weather has in store for us all this season.