Community
25 June, 2025
Don’t close our pool
COMMUNITIES across the shire are ready to put up a fight to save Cobden’s Rodney Grove Aquatic Centre.
As Western District Newspapers revealed earlier this month, operator Cobdenhealth has announced a cutting of hours at the Centre in a bid to reign in expenditure.
The facility has seen Cobdenhealth face a year-on-year deficit which has totalled $1,133,910 in losses between 2019 and 2025, in addition to facing a bill of up to $200,000 to bring the facility infrastructure and equipment to compliance.
But members of the community who depend on the pool for exercise and leisure say the asset provides an invaluable benefit, and have called for all options to be explored.
The centre boasts a large hot tub and a 12x8 mitre warm water pool, which is the only one of its kind between Colac and Warrnambool.
Each week the facilities are used by people from across the region for rehabilitation and exercise, particularly older residents, pre and post-natal women and those living with a disability due to the non-weight bearing nature of aquatic exercise.
Among the users dependent on the asset is Cobden’s Monica Noy, who continues to make use of the facility thanks to support from her family and friends despite now being blind.
“I’ve been using it since it opened,” she said.
“It’s very important because our town is dying and our facilities are being taken away.
“It’s the only heated indoor pool in Corangamite Shire, and we’re not going to get another one if we lose it.
“It’d be a shame to lose it – we can’t lose it.”
Princetown’s Jeanette Stebbins would travel to Cobden three times each week for water fitness, after an accident left her with debilitating curvature of the spine and no other options to stay active without considerable pain.
“Now we’re only doing two sessions each week, which is really disappointing because I need it,” she said.
“It’s a devastating loss if it closes.
“I’m 76 and everyone here is doing it for their health, that’s the main thing – to keep going.
“I’m off a farm and I was very active, and I’ve realised I have to keep fit to keep going.
“But this is the only way I can exercise – going to the gym is useless for me but once I’m in the water, I can stand up and do anything – I can do the whole class and feel so much better afterwards.”
Among those blindsided by the changes is Camperdown’s Carole Manifold, who hosts aquatic exercise classes at the Rodney Grove Aquatic Centre three times a week.
She said users from across south west Victoria flock to Cobden on a weekly basis to utilise the facility, which she believes is essential for many who would otherwise lose the infrastructure required for them to lead a healthy, active lifestyle.
“It’s so important and the fact so many people are coming from across the shire is an example of that,” Mrs Manifold said.
“We have people coming from across the region to classes, with anywhere from 20 to 50 people.
“We usually have a bus come on a Tuesday from the Josie Black Centre in Terang with upwards of 15 people, and it’s wonderful to see three little 90-year-olds at the front of the pool doing their exercises.”
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