Saving the pool to save the community | The Pool

Heywire winner Lauren Paynter, Nyah, Vic

Across Australia, small towns are dying out. Unfortunately, so is mine.

But when my local pool, the community hub for so many, was under threat of closure, I knew I had to do something.

I still remember the first time I touched the bottom of the deep end and I have many great memories of the afternoons I spent racing my siblings up and down the pool.

My family would often be the first ones there when it opened for the day, to do some laps before the sun came up.

To me, it is my home away from home.