Riverside Primary School, in Hullbridge, to keep swimming pool

Riverside Primary School, in Hullbridge, won £25k from the OneFamily Foundation and the money means kids and the wider community will all benefit from the new pool.

The school pool had fallen into disrepair due to lack of funds, and needed gas pipes fixing, broken tiles replacing and a new cover for the outdoor pool.

All children who attend Riverside Primary School will have access to the pool for much needed lessons. The school is situated close to a river, so providing access to swimming lessons is crucial.

Donna Thresher, is the daughter of the original founders of the Riverside Primary School Swimming Pool and was delighted by the news.

"Our village community, including my own parents, came together over 40 years ago to fund and build this pool, so it is fantastic to be able to have helped secure its use for the next generation.

“Living so close to a river we consider swimming lessons to be absolutely key to the happiness and safety of everyone in the village, so when I found out about the OneFamily Community Awards, I knew that this was the ideal way to raise the funds we needed.”

Andy Douglas, headteacher at Riverside, added: “This Community Award is going to have a huge impact on the 290 pupils in the school and about 200 people in our community including the elderly, and scout and brownie groups.

“It’s very exciting that the work can now start. We want to say a huge thank you to both the OneFamily for its generosity and the public for voting for our project!”

OneFamily is an investment firm, which set up a charity foundation to make £5million available to its members over the next five years.

James Hale, customer engagement manager at OneFamily said: “We are delighted to award one of our £25,000 community funding awards to Riverside Primary School.

"The awards exist to enable customers to make something better in their area and this funding will contribute to the safety of local children and will also benefit the wider community."