The Otago Community Trust has awarded the Ida Valley Pool Trust with $20,000 for much-needed upgrades. 

When the Oturehua school closed the local community took over the school pool, which has been run by the Ida Valley Pool Trust since 2004.

In 2016, with the help of the Otago Community Trust, the pool was covered by a plastic clad tunnel house style building. 

“That was very effective at raising the water temperature and extending the Ida valley swimming season,” the OCT statement says. “Sadly that temporary structure has since fallen victim to high snow loading and high winds.

“The community now wishes to erect a permanent building to house its pool. The new structure will be capable of long term survival.”

The nearest pool to Oturehua is Ranfurly (26km) and that distance is a significant barrier to swimming. 

The upgraded Ida Valley pool will benefit the residents of the Ida Valley and the many cyclists who come through. The covering of the pool will extend the swimming season in the Ida Valley by months.

The benefits will be both social and physical. The Ida Valley Pool Trust estimates 50 keys will be issued and that each key will be accessed by multiple users.

In its application to the Otago Community Trust, the Ida Valley Pool Trust says there is a justification for investment to aid tourism. 

"One of the things that lifts a good cycleway to a great cycleway is the facilities along the way.  This pool can be seen from the trail,” the application says. 

“Biking on the trail can be hot, it’s uphill, there's a head wind and there virtually at the top of the Central Otago Rail trail is the Oturehua Pool.  

“You wouldn't remember everything along the way but you would remember your swim at Oturehua."

Central Otago Heritage Trust also received $4,500, while the Central Otago District Arts Trust was granted $8,000.

A $185,000 grant to the Otago Festival of the Arts Trust was also awarded in September. 

This grant will support the Dunedin Arts Festival scheduled for October 2022. Festival director Charlie Unwin says that Otago Community Trust’s support is “invaluable to the festival, especially given the current climate we find ourselves in and allow us to follow on from the success of the 2021 iteration”.

“We will continue to deliver more free events in the city, more engagement with the schools, more diversity in programming and audiences, more accessibility and there is a continuing desire to extend the festival further geographically with shows in Oamaru, Invercargill and Central Otago”.

Other organisations benefiting from grants in September included the Ida Valley Pool Trust who received a $20,000 grant to assist with the cost of a permanent building to house its community swimming pool.

A $17,000 grant was awarded to Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust, a Wānaka community-based native plant nursery that will help with the cost of developing dedicated quarters for its volunteers. 

Central Otago District Arts Trust were awarded a $8,000 grant to assist with the cost of producing "People and Place" an ongoing project designed to support, promote and celebrate artists and the arts in the Central Otago region. 

In total Otago Community Trust approved just over $395,511 to 26 organisations in September 2021.