The Dunedin based, Southern Trust has recently contributed $50,000 towards the construction costs of the new purpose built Hydrotherapy Pool that is to be sited at Waterworld in Te Rapa, Hamilton.

"The Hamilton Hydrotherapy Pool Charitable Trust is delighted the Southern Trust has endorsed this community project and seen fit to support it by making such a large contribution toward the construction cost of the pool, said Chairman David Peart. Fundraising for the pool, began 20 months ago and the fundraising campaign has been forging ahead and with a total of $700,000 having been raised to date. I can almost smell the chlorine"!

A total of $1.2 million is required for the community's contribution towards the estimated $2.4 million project. The Hamilton City council will contribute $620,000 of the capital cost and has to date paid $180,000 for the plans and specifications to be drawn up as well as providing the site at Waterworld. The specially designed, fully accessible 15m x 8m Hydrotherapy Pool with water heated to 35°c will be used by everybody in the community at sometime in their lives, including babies, the elderly, people with special needs, the sports injured and those recovering from operations, accident or trauma.

There has been a lot of fundraising activity over the last couple of months and this has all gone towards lifting the profile of the Hydrotherapy Pool project and making the Trust a major player in the community with their drive for funds.

The seven Rotary Clubs of Hamilton are major supporters of the Hydrotherapy Pool and for the last year they have been fundraising by various methods towards the capital cost of building the pool. Their biggest initiative to date was raising $50,000 by supplying volunteers to staff the hospitality tents at the V8 Supercar event in April. Rotary is also a partner in the 'donation for tiles' project where the Trust is asking for $500 donations for a tile that will be printed with the donors name or business logo and mounted on the interior wall of the Hydrotherapy Pool building.