A WATFORD charity for people with arthritis is celebrating the success of a campaign to find a replacement hydrotherapy pool.

In October, volunteer workers for the Watford branch of national charity Arthritis Care launched a search for a new venue after learning the pool they used at Garston Manor Rehabilitation Centre was closing.

Hydrotherapy - gentle, supervised exercise in water at temperatures of 97 degrees Fahrenheit - provides a vital form of treatment for people who have the disabling disease.

Now Meadow Wood School in Bushey has stepped forward to offer the use of its pool after reading about the appeal in The Watford Observer.

And a new self-help group, Joints 'R' Us, has been launched for people with the disease.

Arthritis Care volunteer worker Mrs Marian Wax, who has had rheumatoid arthritis for 20 years, said: "We are very pleased we have been able to get the new venue. Now we have a new group as well as a new pool."

When Arthritis Care learned the High Elms Lane pool in Garston would shut this year because it was too expensive to renovate, it planned a campaign which included writing to local MPs Claire Ward, Kerry Pollard and Tony McWalter.

But Meadow Wood School contacted the charity and agreed to hire out its pool on Thursday evenings.

Governor Mrs Kristin Gould said: "I saw the article in The Watford Observer and realised we could help.

"A lot of hard work went into building it and we intended it to be used by other organisations outside school hours."

Parents at the Coldharbour Lane school for physically disabled children spent two years raising more than £300,000 to pay for the pool which was officially opened by the Princess Royal in February last year.

Facilities include a hoist to lower people into the water, showers, heated changing rooms and a waiting area.

The sessions at the pool run by Arthritis Care will be held on Thursday evenings between 7.30 and 8.30pm and will cost £4 per person.

Mrs Wax said anybody who attended the sessions was welcome to join the new self-help group. Activities planned include exercise classes, alternative therapists and social activities.

Mrs Wax will give a talk on pain management at Joints 'R' Us's first meeting in the conference room of Beechen Grove Baptist Church hall on Monday, February 16, at 8pm. New members are welcome. For more details call Eileen on 01923 221289.

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