"Best job ever" says Taihape pool manager

Buzz Clarke says she lives, eats and breathes the best job anyone could have.
Tomorrow Mrs Clarke will open the doors to the Taihape Heated pool, where she has been manager for 11 years. Before the manager's position, Mrs Clarke volunteered at the pool for nine years and coached the lifeguards.
Mrs Clarke began her relationship with water safety as a pre-teen lifesaver on Orewa Beach.
In 1985 the born-and-bred Aucklander moved to Taihape with her policeman husband Les and their three children for a two-year rural stint.
The rural stint turned into a permanent move.
She added that she didn't know how long it had took her to be a local. When you meet Mrs Clarke, you are captivated by her eyes.
They are as blue as the sea and quick to smile when she speaks about the 25-metre pool which will be celebrated for 100 years in service to the community next year.
The pool started its life as a 33-metre dive pool.
Mrs Clarke mentioned the swimming champions who have developed their sporting prowess under her coaching in the pool.
``I started them off,'' she said.
These included Nicola Weastell in South Auckland, a ``fabulous athlete going into triathlon'' and Dane Whale, a student at Feilding High School who holds the national title for breaststroke.
Mrs Clarke said when the students went to university they could get a jobs as lifeguards to supplement their student allowance.
Her own children were now adults, but with all the schools using the pool, she now got to play with everyone else's kids.
``When the kids come, the heart of the place starts beating,'' she said.
There are eight lifeguards on duty during the summer season and swimming lessons for all the schools, as well as Learn to Swim.
The big recreational pool is heated to 28 degrees. She pointed to the two smaller pools that would be heated for the opening day _ one for her ``babies'' heated to 34 degrees, and another for small children.
There are plans to open through the winter, but the Taihape Community Development Trust which holds the pool contract wants to see it well used because ``every dollar counts'' in the cost of heating.
A duathlon will be held at tomorrow's opening day for the summer season where the community can swim, walk, paddle and float.
If there are young children they can be piggy-backed the length of the pool then placed in their buggies for a walk around Memorial Park.
There will also be a megasaurus inflatable for children at the opening day. Mrs Clarke said she would be watching the events, keeping her eyes open to ensure everyone was safe.