October 4, 2013

A Petrolia couple has uncovered a piece of history in their own backyard.

Richard and Kelly Poore bought a home on Crescent Park recently knowing there was a “swimming pool” in the backyard that had not been used for some time.

What Poore discovered was the pool was likely the first cement-poured in ground pool in town.

Sylvia Fairbank, who lived on Crescent Park when she was a child, says the pool was actually a therapy pool built for her friend Jane Atkey. When the polio epidemic hit the area in the mid 1950s, the then 15 year old became ill.

As she recovered, Fairbank recalls the local Scouts decided to help out and came to her home and dug the small four-foot deep hole. The cement was poured and Atkey began her therapy.

“It was amazing,” says Fairbank. “ Water therapy was one of the best things…it could assist you or resist you…Jane probably used it every day in the summer and fall.”

But Atkey wasn’t the only person in the water. Fairbank says the pool became a gathering point with neighbourhood children getting a chance to go for a swim after Atkey’s therapy sessions. “A lot of us got to use the pool.”

Atkey grew up and became a physiotherapist and was a “fighter” and an advocate for those with disabilities.

For their part, the Poores plan to keep the cement therapy pool – which is still in good shape and without cracks – intact filling it with pea stone and creating a pond. Poore says landscapers have assured him that will preserve it in case someone wants to use the pool again.

 

 

Share This

Image
Front Page

Over $70K of equipment stolen in PW break in

November 4, 2024

Lambton OPP are investigating after over $70,000 in equipment was stolen. Nov. 1, OPP were called to a Michigan Line property in Plympton-Wyoming after the owner noticed equipment missing. Police say sometime overnight, someone accessed the property and stole a number of items including a Yanmar compact tractor, a Ferris zero-turn mower, a 1965 Chevy half ton pickup and a

Read More

Image
Front Page

UPDATE: OPP say missing 71 year-old dead

November 4, 2024

The Lambton OPP search for a missing 71 year-old man in the Watford area is over. A social media post states the man is deceased. Police received a call Nov. 3, that the man was missing and he’d been last seen on Highway 402 near the Nauvoo Road exit around 5 am. Police closed the road in the area for

Read More

Image
Front Page

Memorial to the fallen in Petrolia

November 1, 2024

Catherine Lesley, Petrolia Mayor Brad Loosley and Joe Card were among the volunteers at Hillsdale Cemetery in Petrolia Friday morning erecting over 400 crosses in memory of the veterans buried there. The Margaret Stokes IODE spearheads the project with members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 26 helping out. This year, volunteers also planted 3,500 daffodil bulbs near the memorial

Read More

Image
Front Page

A pre-teen charged with assault after school fight in Forest

November 1, 2024

A 12 year-old is facing assault charges after an incident at a Forest school Lambton OPP were called to MacDonald Street in Forest, near Kinwood Central School, for a report of a disturbance. Police are releasing no details of what happened, saying only there were no serious injuries. A 12 year-old from Lambton County has been charged with four counts

Read More