THREE Chard traders have offered to provide free work to keep their beloved local swimming pool from closing in just a few weeks.

A builder, plumber and electrician have all come together to pledge hours of their spare time towards keeping Cresta Swimming Pool open free of charge.

The three friends are Dan Evans of H&M Construction, Ben Chant of B A Chant Plumbing, and George Chlopecki of ECO Electrix.

They have all said they will provide their time free of charge to keep the pool running, and then discounted services in the long run.

Ben’s supplier has also promised to provide materials at cost.

Dan said: “We regularly do things like this for the community, sports clubs, things like that.

“I grew up swimming there from about the age of six, and I am 30 now.

“My old man also worked there as a lifeguard, so I know how much it gets used.”

Ben is from Crewkerne originally, but used to swim at Cresta in the summer with his dad.

He now lives in Chard, and hopes his daughter will grow up getting to use the pool.

He said: “I own a plumbing firm and we have also said any little bits of maintenance to do we are happy to carry out free of charge.

“It seems the council has been charged an awful lot of money. We can do it for much less, give the community discounts and put people that run it in touch with our suppliers.

“We will give all the free time we can for this. Even if we all get together to work on it at the weekends, it will be well worth it in the long run.”

Tracy Slater, who has been campaigning to keep the pool open since last year, said: “We would like to say a massive thank you to them

“They are all local firms and we know them, and any ongoing work at a discounted price would be fantastic.”

If you are a local trader who would like to offer to help the pool committee, contact Tracy Slater at attey0@gmail.com.