Haig Angling Club warning over swimming in Mirehouse Ponds

Parents are now being urged to make sure their children stay away from open water as temperatures rise.

Dave Heald, secretary of Haig Angling Club, which is responsible for Mirehouse Ponds, highlighted the dangers of swimming there.

He said: “These are the challenges with young people – open water and warm weather.

“They’ll go in to cool off but they don’t really understand the dangers.

“We know we’ve got a lot of silt in the pond, so if they were to sink in and not be able to get out because they slip into the silt and they’re not strong swimmers....

“You don’t know what’s been thrown into the ponds. We dragged a motorbike out once.

“There are things that may be in the pond that would be a danger to them.

“Then there’s the hot weather and cold water and the impact it has on your body. I believe when it was a larger reservoir, someone died there.

“We’re very conscious as a club that kids are kids, but you’ve got to try and do your best to educate them.”

Mr Heald said he had gone down to the ponds to speak to the teenagers involved after hearing about the incident on the Mirehouse Matters Facebook page.

He said: “I went down and found three teenage girls drying out on the bank.

“I explained how dangerous it was and that they shouldn’t be there. They were very polite and moved on.”

Carl Walmsley, who represents Whitehaven South on Copeland Council, and runs the Mirehouse Matters Facebook page, said: “The dangers of swimming in open waters are pretty well documented and we are all taught them from an early age.

“I would encourage parents to remind their kids of the dangers just to be sure, especially this time of year, when it’s tempting to jump in and cool down.

“I don’t think the kids in question in the Mirehouse pond were in any danger.

"They were paddling in the shallow end to cool down.

"The reports had come from a lady who had been walking her dog around the pond."

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