Friends of Peterborough Lido (FoPL) held their AGM on 17 March 2025 in the George Alcock Centre, Stanground. The meeting was well attended and we were pleased to welcome representatives from Peterborough Limited/ PCHLL/ Vivacity’s Operational Management Team and the Partnership Manager for Culture and Leisure from Peterborough City Council (PCC).
The meeting began with a warm welcome from Clare Marshall followed by a tribute and a moment of reflection for Sam Chapman, our most senior member who passed away in February this year, and Chris Allen, a legend whose love of the Lido has spanned many decades and who lost his three-year battle with cancer last week.
The minutes from the 2025 AGM, were agreed and signed as an accurate record of the meeting.
Clare gave a statement regarding her difficult decision not to stand for the position of Chair for a further year due to declining health. She thanked people who had helped during the past year. Her Chair’s address showed how some of the Friends of the Lido had helped with pre-season cleaning and preparation, planting, theatre stewarding and the daily ‘locker docking’.
The meeting saw the launch of the 90 Years of Peterborough Lido, a 100-page book published to help raise the Lido’s profile and create funds for support of the Lido.
The Treasurer’s report followed with a request that the members approve a rise in the membership fee for the following year to £12. This was unanimously agreed.
Ian Rowe from PCHLL then stood in to preside over the election of officers and committee members for 2026. The new FoPL committee for 2026 is:
Chair: vacant
Secretary/Vice Chair: Cheryl Thompson
Treasurer/Membership Secretary: Jane Callaghan
Committee: Monica Ilett (IT lead)
Emily Niemc
Mike Henchy
Kay Henson
Emily Faulkner-Boyd
The committee members standing down this year – Maggie Divers and Kay Collins – were formally thanked.
Cheryl Thompson then took over the meeting as Vice Chair. A presentation of flowers was presented to Clare, who had been a Committee member since the FoPL’s beginning in 2017.
This was followed by an update from the PL/PCHLL/Vivacity operational management team, together with the PCC Partnership manager for Culture, Sports, and Leisure. The announcement was made that the Lido will open early this year at the end of March and remain open until the end of September. As this is the Lido’s 90th year, a series of special events will be held over the weekend of 28 May as well as other events throughout the year. There was confirmation that covers have been installed, a secure bicycle store for Lido visitors, and the Café has been brought back in-house, with improvements being investigated.
A Q&A session followed, with pre-submitted questions sent to the Committee for the operator’s officers or the PCC representatives to answer.
The meeting closed with tea, coffee, and biscuits and a chance to chat informally with members and PL/PCHLL/Vivacity representatives.
