Dear Member

You may have heard the announcement by the First Minister this afternoon that gyms and swimming pools will be allowed to reopen at the end of August.

This is welcome news after five months of lockdown and I’m sure you’ll be very keen to get back to your favourite club. Assuming there are no changes to the lockdown easing, we’ll all be able to start enjoying most of the facilities again from 7:00am on Monday 31 August.

As you’d expect, things won’t be entirely as they were before the pandemic. Like all other places, we’ll need to comply with regulations. We’ll all need to get used to new ways of using the club to ensure members and staff are as safe as possible. You will need to work with us and each other to ensure we are able to stay open.

Our team have already discussed and drafted new operating procedures that should allow members to use as much of the club as permitted. I’ll be sending you a full briefing once we’ve checked all the guidelines (which will also appear on our website and social media), so please read it before returning to the baths. Above all, please be patient and considerate to everyone as we all get used to our new safety measures.

I’m really touched that so few of you cancelled your membership. And I’m grateful to all those who continued to pay their membership in full. For all those who chose to reduce fees, they will return to full levels in the next standing order run due in the next couple of weeks.

We’ve survived this long, because generations of members, stuck with us through extremely difficult and challenging times. It’s not long now until we can all be back together again celebrating everything we love about being a member of the Arlington family.

Best wishes,

Gordon McDougall

Chairman