TEARS and anger erupted in Leominster following the sudden closure, draining out and boarding up of the town's popular Sydonia Swimming Pool.

School timetables were disrupted and the training programmes of promising competitive swimmers in the Kingfisher Swimming Club were derailed.

Children wept over cancelled swimming lessons and the realisation that they would never return to the pool. Some adult swimmers and pool staff were also overcome with emotion.

The pool had to shut down some hours earlier than planned last Friday because some members of the 26-strong workforce were so distressed after hearing of the closure decision from Herefordshire Council leisure chief Geoff Cole.

Mayor Patricia Thomas was "very upset" by the news. The Hereford Times was inundated with protest calls from around North Herefordshire, including Kington which lacks a pool of its own.

Leominster's strained relationship with Herefordshire Council - stemming from a number of other issues - plunged to new low.

Sydonia's shock closure on health and safety grounds was described by Leominster MP Bill Wiggin as "the final straw."

He said: "I am furious that there has been no warning. The council's treatment of Leominster is appalling."

The Sydonia shutdown comes hard on the heels of the council cabinet's decision to impose parking charges at a Leominster car park - with another car park 'under review' - despite massive protests.

The council, under fire for a lack of youth provision, was expected to compound its public relations crisis this week by demolishing the once thriving Leominster Youth Centre - 200 yards from the pool. Repairs for defects on both buildings are deemed too costly by council leaders.

Adrian Dalley, vice-chairman of the Kingfisher Swimming Club, was among those worried this week that the continued loss of leisure facilities will result in bored young people turning to drugs.

"The council is shutting everything down. The youngsters have nowhere to go," he said.

The town could be in limbo without a pool for two years or more until a planned new £2 million facility is built on to the north end of Leominster Leisure Centre.

Heavily used Sydonia began as an open-air lido in 1937 on land given to the town 'for the children of Leominster for ever' by local benefactor Sydney Bridges. The future of the site is now unclear.

Disabled and elderly swimmers who used the pool for therapy, thousands of leisure swimmers, learners, schools and swimming club members now face a long trek to Hereford and other towns.