A SWIMMING pool which was broken into and trashed by vandals, has reopened after thousands of pounds were raised to pay for repairs.

The pool at Witney Community Primary School was damaged, with equipment destroyed after the attack, which was discovered on August 3.

Furniture had been broken and items thrown into the pool, while fire extinguishers had been let off, leaving a huge amount of mess to be cleared up.

A fundraiser was quickly set up on GoFundMe with an initial £1,000 target. It has already raised over £3,300.

Witney resident Daniel Wells, 39, who set up the fundraiser, said: “The staff from Water Babies [a swimming school for young children] had a really good push to clean up, and hired equipment to get everything sanitised too.

“There was the white powder from the fire extinguishers which needed a really big deep clean to get everything sorted.

“We’ve been offered a couple of CCTV cameras for the pool, which was a really kind gesture, and I think there’ll be an investment in a couple more too.

“Hopefully the CCTV will put off this happening again and it reoccurring.

“Middletown Grange Care Home in Witney took part in a 24-hour exercise bike ride off their own back, which was also really good to see.

“I think while that was going on, we managed to raise between £400 and £500 extra.

“The amount we’ve raised has far surpassed what we expected and I think Water Babies will be able to invest this into different programmes.

“I thought we’d raise only a few hundred pounds but to get to £3,500 [through donations not on the online fundraiser] has by far exceeded our expectations.

“The response to the GoFundMe for the school pool has been incredible and we’ve been blown away by the support.”

Amazingly, the pool was able to reopen just a week after the vandalism was discovered.

Read again: Witney swimming pool trashed and vandalised after break-in

Prior to the break-in, the facility had just had a deep clean and the pool was being warmed up in readiness for reopening that week.

The pool is used by Water Babies for swimming lessons, which were subsequently cancelled while the pool was cleaned and fixed.

Water Babies was founded in 2002 and now caters for over 50,000 carers and babies every week in countries around the globe, including Canada, China and The Netherlands.

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Soon after the break-in, an investigation was launched by Thames Valley Police, with the incident believed to have taken place between 11.30am on Saturday, August 1 and 11.05am on Monday, August 3.

A police spokesman said last night that no arrests had been made and that the investigation has been filed, pending further evidence coming to light.

Oxford Mail:

The force asked anyone with information to get in touch by calling 101 or to make a report online, quoting reference 43200238864.

Police have already asked for witnesses to come forward and requested the submission of CCTV footage taken near the school site.