October 26, 2004
By Lucille Davie
ONE of the city's oldest pools, the Yeoville swimming pool, has received a sparkling multi-toned blue mosaic facelift.
Yeoville resident Gabrielle Ozynski received a donation of tiles and wondered what to do with them. So she invited 10 people - her friends and a paid helper - to roll up their sleeves and help her with the project, done over eight Saturdays.
"I was pretty determined and hoped it would spark something positive, by changing the area from something worthless into an attractive corner," she says.
The pool is on the busy corner of Kenmere and Raleigh, a constant stream of traffic and people. The pool was built in 1931, with striking columns finishing the entrance and the small attractive, domed entrance hall.
The entrance is now surrounded by colourful mosaic in no particular pattern, with the space between the three entrance steps glittering in glass-triangled mosaic. Down the Raleigh Road wall are four large blue squares, filled with fun images like hearts, fish, waves and the sky, and framed with shades of blue paint, offset by four tall palm trees. Since the completion of the project, the City has painted the exterior columns sky blue to match the tile work.
Ozynski says the pavement area of the pool was filthy with garbage when she started. The pool officials tidied it up, and have kept it tidy. There is graffiti along the walls, and although the officials have tried to remove the many posters that littered the walls, the remains of glue and paper still linger.
Herbie van Eck, the caretaker of the pool, is thrilled with the new-look exterior and is now overseeing the painting of the interior, in cream and turquoise. He says it's a popular pool, with up to 300 children and their parents visiting it every weekend in summer.
Van Eck has been caretaker for four years and lives on the property, and says he wouldn't want to be anywhere else, even though it's a very busy, noisy corner of Yeoville.
Ozynski approached the Region 8 city officials before embarking on the project, and although they had no funds to pay for the spruce-up, they approved her idea and are keen for her to do the other pools in the region - Hofland Park, Ellis Park, Rhodes Park, Mayfair, Turffontein and Malvern.
Pieter van Vuuren, operations manager of marketing and communications in Region 8, says they have been so pleased with the result that they have decided to adopt mosaic as the region's corporate image.
"We want all our recreation and aquatic facilities to feature some mosaic so that when people see mosaic they know it's Region 8," he says. Mosaic finishes also involve a lot less maintenance than paint, he adds.
Once all the pools are done, Van Vuuren says they will go on to work on the recreation centres, doing mosaic in an Ndebele theme, pending funding.
Ozynski says she had no previous experience of mosaic work before this project, but got plenty of advice and encouragement along the way. She would like to do the other pools, but needs funding.
She spent R2 000 out of her pocket on this job, and has approached the National Council for the Arts, Business & Arts South Africa and the Johannesburg Development Agency, but with no luck so far.
But once she gets the funding, there'll be no holding her back: "I'd love Yeoville to be full of mosaic," she beams.
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