How times change (From Penarth Times)

How times change

7:20am Thursday 2nd August 2012 in Letters

WHEN I was younger in the nineties, if my friends and I were acting boisterously, dive-bombing and being a general nuisance in Cogan swimming baths, we were told to leave immediately – and I witnessed that quite a lot.

These days, it seems that bad behaviour is allowed to carry on because they are ‘just being kids’, regardless of adults simply trying to enjoy a decent uninterrupted swim.

My mother and I have started regularly attending Cogan Leisure Centre swimming pool, and recently had an unfortunate experience where a young lad of around 12 was showing off to his mates and dive-bombing over people’s heads. My mother asked him politely to not be so rough and his reply was extremely rude. I notified the lifeguard and asked him to have a word with the group, which he did. The boys carried on misbehaving and the same boy then approached my mum and threw water in her face.

My mum, who is nearly 60, pushed the boy out of the way but his mother saw this and claimed my mother had assaulted him!

We left as we were made to feel like criminals even though we were just trying to swim some lengths as we normally do.

If the community don’t want to lose their local swimming pool to the Cardiff Bay pool, then please could the lifeguards nip bad behaviour in the bud as soon as it happens – as my mum feels too intimidated to attend Cogan Leisure Centre any more.

Disappointed Penarth