Ms McDonald said she keeps coming back for the company of friends she made when she started visiting the Archie Graham Community Centre hydrotherapy pool eight years ago after a hip replacement.

The pool reopened last week after being closed for months while a heating unit was replaced and other upgrades took place, delighting regular swimmers.

Ms McDonald was back on the day the pool reopened – January 16 – to return to the water with the group of friends she’s had for years.

“I was pretty miserable when I first came, so I was concentrating on exercise, but then the girls introduced themselves,” Ms McDonald said.

“It was great as an outsider – we retired here from the country – so not knowing a lot of people, it was really great.”

Ms McDonald said she practised exercises a physiotherapist had advised, and the social element was crucial for her.

“It is a really important part of coming here,” she said. “It’s become a meeting place as well as an exercise place.”

Ms McDonald said she enjoyed the personal experience she got at the centre, with reception staff greeting her by name.

The pool, which runs at about 34 degrees, provides a place for a diverse range of people to complete exercises to improve their fitness.

Jess Groves started using the pool after her hip replacement five years ago, and that’s where she made a group of friends that included Ms McDonald.

“It’s good to come and walk around in the water and have a talk and a laugh,” she said.

Community support service manager Fran Fogarty said around 250 people visited the pool each week, so while it was closed she ensured regular users could access other hydrotherapy pools in the community.

Funds for the upgrade came from local, state and federal government.