It seems to be the population's goal to make the hard-working staff feel as bad as possible for trying their best under very difficult circumstances.

I myself am a frequent, almost daily user of the centre and will often either have a brief chat to some of the staff or overhear other customer's comments about how filthy and disgusting the place is.

Unfortunately, sitting and complaining about the issue doesn't help, and in direct response to the letter dated April 16 about filthy changing rooms I have seen the staff there when they try to clean up, and I can assure Mrs Roe and anyone else who believes as she does that it is neither a simple, nor five minute job. I recently spoke to a member of staff who told me he had been in the changing rooms for over half an hour, armed with a pressure washer and disinfectant trying to clean up after a particularly busy day.

If there are those out there who feel they could do a better job at cleaning the place I believe I saw an advert this morning saying they're looking for a full-time cleaner and I'm sure they'd be delighted to hear from anyone who thinks they can do such an amazing job in such a small amount of time.

My own personal view is that the staff are polite and courteous, I have never had cause to complain about any of them. Yes I will admit sometimes it's not quite spotless, however I also notice that almost none of the other customers wear the conveniently placed 'blue shoes' designed to go over normal footwear thus minimising the trafficking
of dirt.

If I ever DO have a real issue with something I also generally find that mentioning it to the manager on duty, or even one of the capable lifeguards with a smile and a handful of manners works much better than a letter to the local paper ever could.

I think that everyone in that centre deserves an apology for the way the public have been treating them of late.
Lest we all forget, the centre does run a free swimming initiative during school holidays which I'm told is almost always packed out. I dare say if over 1,000 children a day traipsed through my house I doubt it would look too spotless either.

I think everyone who has a complaint and thinks they'd like to make it public should first think whether it's actually useful, no-one likes mindless drivel, not to mention the fact that if people spent a little time considering the circumstances ie. a large number of children stampeding through the centre, then not only would the centre improve as they'd have to waste less time reading letters published here but also the morale of the staff might improve, which in turn can only be good news for us users.

So, seeing as no-one seems to have said it... Thank you to all who work at Daventry leisure centre. Keep up the good work and I'll see you when I come in for my next swim.
Mr C Winson.
Daventry