Community
6 May, 2026
A community asset lost
COMMUNITY members are rallying behind the Rodney Grove Aquatic Centre fundraising initiative, with the hopes of regaining access to a vital community asset which has unfortunately been lost.
A committee, the Friends of Rodney Grove Pool and Gym (FORG) have been hard at work seeking funding for the pool since its closure in December.
As Western District Newspapers has previously reported, the indoor pool originally closed for routine maintenance, but further structural issues were found which meant up to $200,000 would be required to get the pool up to an acceptable standard to reopen.
With changes to the Aged Care Act and with Cobdenhealth needing to focus their funding into their general practice and aged care services, they were no longer able to continue operating the pool at a loss and afford the required maintenance.
However, there are vocal members of the community who are determined to see it open again – including Warren Ponting, who said he used the indoor pool for hydrotherapy multiple times a week when it was open.
“It’s amazing how when you hop in the pool for half an hour, how good the body feels with the warm water – less gravity, it was amazing,” he said.
“I’ve been using it for the last five years regularly.
“It’s been great for not only the body but also the mind as well.
“It’s relaxing, it’s my social outlet – I’m stuck at home nearly all day every day at the moment so getting out to the pool was socially and mentally good as well.”
Mr Ponting is a veteran who injured his neck in the military, resulting in multiple spinal surgeries in the past six years.
“All my nervous system, the muscle spasms, everything – the pool for me meant I was able to do exercises in the pool with weightlessness,” he said.
“Since December I haven’t actually been back in a pool at all, so I’m very stiff, sore and sorry.”
Mr Ponting said he had been to a few of the community meetings regarding the pool and felt there were multiple options to consider moving forward.
“I think we need to look at options to start with and know what path we’re going to go down,” he said.
“Cobdenhealth ran it – we firstly need to understand that for the last however many years, they’ve been using a government grant or subsidy that they were getting $150,000 a year to keep the pool going.
“As much as we think they haven’t done the right thing, they haven’t run it right and now they’ve shut it, that funding was actually gone so from their perspective, that’s money they haven’t got now to put into the pool and really at the end of the day they’re a health care centre, not a pool and gym.
“In moving forward, we need to look at options – so could the place be leased out?
“Is there the option that it could be sold so someone could buy the business and do what they want with it?
“Then there’s the other option which is that we raise the money and we help Cobdenhealth run it again.”
Mr Ponting said he believed there was a positive chance the fundraising efforts would be successful if they could find the right people to back the cause.
“There’s a wider community out there, and I know it’s hard times, but there are people out there who still have money and I think there are people out there who are interested in helping – we just need to get the right people there to do it,” he said.
“I think some people think they don’t want the hospital involvement and that it just needs to be done externally such as through leasing or buying, then there’s those that want to support the hospital and think they’ve done a great service to us over the last 15 years it’s been open.
“We definitely need something – the facility is there and we need to use it.
“We can jump every hurdle we just have to think about how we can do it.
“There’s a committee there ready to do it and I’m sure there’s people out there who would be interested in at least talking and looking at what the options are.”
At the end of the day, Mr Ponting said he knew the Cobden community could come together for something big like this.
“I know we have a really good community here – Cobden and the surrounding areas have done some amazing things for the community,” he said.
“I’m actually a member of the airport and some of the fundraising we’ve done there to get it sealed, a helicopter pad, all those, a lot of that’s come from local community engagement and we are a very strong community.
“I think the community just need to know more about what the options are and how we can get it going and get some in there who have money or have business sense to help get it going and the community will then support that and we’ll get it going again.
“It would be no good if it was just filled in and used as a storage shed for the hospital
“When Rodney Grove passed away and donated all that money, that was a great contribution – I don’t think he would be very happy if it was like that.
“We as a community, as businesses, as councillors and everyone, need to get together to make this happen.”