The Haversham Club pool opened for member use in 2024 on Saturday, May 25. This is a good time to review pool rules and etiquette for the season. As a reminder, one of the ways we as a club have kept our dues appreciably lower than other local HOA groups is that we police ourselves and we take care of our grounds and facilities on a good-neighbor basis. We have no hired pool maintenance company, grounds or janitorial services.
Pool Rules
Pool rules posted on the pump house wall provide only a summary of critical rules. Some rules have expansion and subtexts. For example, Rule 4 states the pool is for use by “Members and guests only.” In our by-laws, but not on the abbreviated board is a subtext that says any guest at the pool must be accompanied by their hosting member. The 7th rule on this list is written at the bottom: Pool hours are 1o a.m. to 10 p.m. The pool has to be shocked periodically, and that is most commonly done after 10 p.m. so that the pool is swimmable the next morning. There are also some informal rules that might be more properly considered common etiquette.
Bottled beverage verboten
On our first weekend, we have already experienced a couple of serious violations of these rules. Bottles of Michelob Ultra were taken into the pool area late Memorial Day morning. This is an absolute No! No! All it takes is one unintended slip-up, and, as a matter of safety we have to shut down everything, drain the pool, disassemble the filters and pumps, and scour everything for glass shards.
Children and guests must be attended
We previously mentioned that guests must be attended by their hosting member at the pool as a by-law clarification of Rule 4. Similarly, Rule 1 might seem self-explanatory, “No children under 14 allowed without adult.” Again, on Memorial Day we had an episode of several young children at the pool without an adult. Again, as a good neighbor I might agree to “be the adult” for someone else’s children (several of us have done this), but children should not be sent to the pool without an adult or some such agreement.
Etiquette reminder
Common facilities are intended for the common use of ALL Haversham Club members. We have two calendars for reserving use of the party house. The pool cannot be reserved, but it is common courtesy for members to take a low profile at the pool while one of our neighbors is holding a party at the party house.
When you are done with any event, please clean up after yourself and your guests. This extends to the party house, the pool area, and any equipment used.
If you or your children use any toys in the pool, be sure that you retrieve all of them from the pool. On Sunday morning, May 26, we had to retrieve nearly two dozen toys before we could do routine maintenance on the pool. When this has been a problem in the past, toys left in the pool have been sent to the city landfill.