Safety should be child's play at Carnegie Leisure Centre says mum
Ally McRoberts • Published 13 Jan 2012 08:40
7 Comments
SAFETY and family-friendly facilities at the new £18million-plus Carnegie Leisure Centre should be child's play.
But according to a Dunfermline mum the bosses have forgotten about core customers - families who want to go swimming.
And after raising the issue Kymm Bonner (33), of Peirson Road, was fuming after claiming she was told 'we're not here to look after your kids'.
She took two-year-old Zak and Lexi, 10 months, to the baths on Monday and said, "For families who want to go swimming, you're stuffed as there is nowhere to put babies when you're changing.
"Cowdenbeath's changing room has a playpen and chairs attached to the wall of the cubicle so you can strap them in while you're getting changed.
"It worked perfectly and they used to have them in Dunfermline, before they closed for this multi-million pound refurbishment, but not any more.
"There's nothing at Carnegie."
Kymm added, "I asked the lady who was there, she said she'd mentioned it before and was told by management that it's not their job to look after my children.
"It's not the job of McDonald's staff to look after children either but at least they provide high chairs for their safety."
She said there were only two changing tables at the new centre but that they didn't have any safety harnesses or straps.
"I had to wait half an hour to get one but they're not safe, if you turn away for a second a child could easily fall down onto a solid tiled floor," she claimed.
"I met people I knew in the changing room who could hold Lexi while I got changed, I had to put Zak on the floor, or I wouldn't have been able to go swimming."
Kymm said that when she complained she was told by a manager that they would "see if there was something they could do".
And she said, "They managed it at the old pool and at Cowdenbeath, they could even have borrowed high chairs from the cafe.
"I'm not looking for any super-duper facilities, just basic safety equipment of the type they had before so families can go swimming.
"They seem to have spent a lot on state-of-the-art gym equipment but the kids' pool doesn't even have a chute, another thing they had before but not now."
Her persistence seems to have paid off with leisure bosses now ordering new equipment.
Wendy Watson, customer services manager for Fife Sports and Leisure Trust, said, "Carnegie Leisure Centre has a number of specially-designed changing areas for family and disabled use, as part of this provision there are a number of purpose-built baby changing tables.
"The tables have moulded sides to allow the child to lie flat on the surface, however, the tables do require adult supervision.
"To aid parents looking after young children in the changing area, play pens have been ordered and are due to be delivered by the end of the week."
She said parents were being encouraged to bring buggies into the changing area and added, "We welcome customer feedback, particularly in a newly-opened facility such as Carnegie Leisure Centre and can only apologise if the customer was inconvenienced.
"As part of a review process, we will assess the current changing tables and determine if any additional safety features could be used to help parents supervising young children."
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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DunfermlineEast
137 posts
Jan 13, 21:59
Report commentQuite right, things like this in changing rooms should have been designed into the plant.
Recommend?
Yes 13
No 4
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BrownOwl
17 posts
Jan 15, 21:12
Report commentI go all the way to Pettycur Bay every week with a group of mums and babies but we were keen to try out the facilities at Carnegie. Glad to hear new equipment has been ordered.
Recommend? Yes 0
No 3
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vinoboy35
70 posts
Jan 18, 21:22
Report commentDisabled folk are unable to access the Centre as car parking does not exist for them anywhere close , so they are effectively excluded from the Centre for how long ? Another little detail forgotten.The temprature in pool viewing area is incredibly hot ,only in Fife do we spend a fortune and get shoddy approach and poor customer service .
Recommend? Yes 0
No 3
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******
Jan 21, 20:35
Report commentThis comment has been removed by a moderator
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jocknroll
85 posts
Jan 22, 20:01
Report commentMy wife and daughter turned up at the pool on Saturday morning at 1050 to use the pool only to be told they couldn't as there was a swimming gala on. It was suggested to them that they should use Cowdenbeath instead. Why should they go to Cowdenbeath when there's a perfectly good pool in the town where they live? Why open this refurbished centre in a blaze of publicity to then let down the bread and butter punters?
It appears that the swimming clubs are being given preferential treatment over the paying members of the public. With two big pools I don't understand how they couldn't accommodate both.
As a result my wife took our daughter, and her money, to the Ceramic Experience instead.
Recommend? Yes 2
No 1
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secretfaerie
1 post
Jan 30, 14:16
Report commentI went with my friend and her baby and my baby to this pool and it was a pain having to wait the TWO cubicles that had baby changers. We were freezing when we waited ; it takes a while to change baby and get dressed yourself. There are loads of mums/dads with their babies. There should be a changer in each cubicle I say to meet the demand!
Recommend? Yes 2
No 0
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WhatabouttheBay
7 posts
Feb 5, 20:37
Report commentVinoboy35 obviously does know much about swimming pools.
They have to be maintained at a minimum of 1DegC above the water temperature. Which therefore means the pool hall is at 30DegC.
Its there to protect the fabric - The commy pool in Edinburgh was always like that and all pools are the same. You will notice it at Carnegie more as most pools dont have the viewing areas that Carnegie has.
I have to say I think its great that parents can look down on the kids getting their lessons, remember you'll be dressed for the outdoors which hasnt been above 10DegC for a while.
Recommend? Yes 0
No 0
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bicyclebob
159 posts
Feb 8, 15:01
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