West Park Pool is the colloquial name for the Victoria Marine Lake, located on the sands at West Park. Constructed in 1897, it was officially opened on the 9th June that year, with the most of the great and the good of Jersey on the beach that day. At the time it was probably the largest such pool in the British Isles.
Over the next 100 years the lake was used by thousands of visitors and residents for a variety of watersports. In the late 1980's I had a personal interest in the pool as I had the concession from Jersey Tourism to operate in the pool and rented out what were probably the first sit on top kayaks to be seen in Jersey.
From the 1990's onwards the condition of the pool started to deteriorate, very little, if any, maintenance was undertaken and eventually the gates were left open so that instead of water being retained within the walls the water drained out in sync with the falling tide.
What we were left with was a crumbling Victorian wall on the beach. Fortunately a group of locals, less that two years ago, had the vision to restore the Jubilee Marine Lake. Finance was secured and restoration undertaken.
Today, quietly and without any public announcement it opened for activities to begin. There is an official opening at the end of next week but it is good to see it up and running and will hopefully provide a valuable resource for the residents of St Helier and those who live further afield.
The pool with Elizabeth Castle behind
Looking west across the pool towards Noirmont.
Sit on tops, stand up paddleboards and pedalos all for rental
The plan is to have sailing on the pool in the not too distant future.
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