On Sunday, 5 May, the Ringallee outdoor pool will open its doors again for around five months.
It's that time again: on Sunday, 5 May 2024 at 7 a.m., Giessen's swimming pools will kick off the new season at the Ringallee outdoor pool. In order to enable uninterrupted swimming fun, those responsible have used the past few weeks to make the entire facility fit for the upcoming summer. The non-swimmers' pool was given a new liner. The pool heads and pool surrounds in the sports and diving pools were repaired. Photovoltaic modules have already been installed on the modernised roof of the functional building. They are part of a system with an output of around 90 kilowatts peak, which is due to go into operation this year. "We will use the majority of the electricity generated here in future directly on site," explains Uwe Volbrecht, Head of the Giessen pools.
Preserving good things
In the coming summers, the Ringallee outdoor pool will continue to cater for the physical well-being of bathers. "We were able to extend the contract with the kiosk tenant for another five years," says a delighted Uwe Volbrecht. And elsewhere, everything will also remain the same: "We can keep our admission prices constant in 2024," announces Uwe Volbrecht. Specifically, a single ticket will cost 3.70 euros and children under the age of five will be admitted free of charge.
The issue of opening hours, which has been controversial in the meantime, is off the table. In fact, despite the acute shortage of skilled labour, the Giessen pools have succeeded in recruiting the staff required for a safe outdoor pool season. This means that the pool opens as usual at 7 a.m. and usually closes at 8 p.m. "On particularly sunny, warm days and during the summer holidays, we will of course extend the opening hours again," announces Uwe Volbrecht.
Slight delay
However, there is a slight downer: the construction work as part of the renaturalisation of the Wieseck - also known as the Bitterling measure - has been delayed due to the weather. This has had an impact on swimming. This is because part of the sunbathing lawn is being used as temporary storage for materials and excavated earth. "We are currently assuming that around a third of the sunbathing area will not be available to our bathers until the beginning of July. We apologise for this in advance," explains Uwe Volbrecht. Important to know: On normal days, this restriction is of no consequence. Even if it gets really warm over Whitsun or on the long weekends and a correspondingly large number of people come to Ringallee, the sunbathing lawn should still have enough space for everyone.
The outdoor pools will follow at the beginning of June
The Ringallee outdoor pool is just the beginning. As of today, the Kleinlinden and Lützellinden outdoor pools will open their doors for the first time this year on 2 June. "Because we don't heat the water here, we need a few sunny days to get it to the usual pleasantly refreshing temperature," explains Uwe Volbrecht.
There is an innovation in Kleinlinden this season: the functional building of the former campsite is now part of the outdoor pool. As a result, bathers can use the sanitary facilities inside without restriction.
As in the Ringallee outdoor pool, the opening times and prices for the two outdoor pools will remain the same as in 2023.
Further information can be found at www.giessener-baeder.de