Swimmers have said goodbye after three decades of using an Oxford pool.

Peers Sports Centre and swimming pool will close its doors to the public next weekend as part of Oxford City Council’s £5.7m cost-cutting drive.

The Littlemore Larks bid farewell to the centre with their final Sunday swim today.

The club has attracted more than 40 elderly swimmers for swims three times a week over the past 30 years.

Dave Holmes, 63, of Blackbird Leys, who is registered blind, had been swimming at the pool with the Littlemore Larks for more than 25 years.

He said: “I feel devastated that it has been taken away from us. We were given assurances we had it until 2010. But we are moving to other pools so it’s not the end of the line.”

The group is now moving to Temple Cowley and Barton swimming pools.

The amount of people using Peers Sports Centre has dwindled in recent years falling from 90,000 a year in 2005 to 53,000 in 2007.