New Cumnock is one of the last Scottish communities to boast an outdoor swimming pool. The pool is heated by new energy-efficient heat-store air pumps, funded by a £20,000 grant from the Green Energy Trust.

The new feature was welcomed when the pool opened its summer season in May 2007.

Jimmy Carmichael, of the New Cumnock Environmental Regeneration Volunteers (NERV), said "The outdoor swimming pool here means so much to the entire village that NERV took over the running of it from the Council in 2001. It had been earmarked for closure, but we were determined to keep it open and residents have been behind all our efforts."

Villagers - many of them out of work - joined forces to keep the pool open by raising over £50,000. "Gestures like that show just how much this pool means to the community," says Jimmy. "ScottishPower's involvement has been really significant. Our running costs were very high due to rises in energy costs, but the grant from ScottishPower has meant that not only are we able to run it much more effectively, we are also able to do our bit for the environment, as there are less emissions."