TODAY dawns as the first day in the rest of Portishead Open Air Pool's life.

A week-long Extreme Makeover at the hands of American presenter Ty Pennington starts today.

More than £120,000 will be spent upgrading the pool before it opens next Saturday, in time for the bank holiday weekend.

Among the energy saving devices to be installed will be solar panels and a new pump controller.

Other improvements will include refurbishing the children's pool, painting the pool and installing new lockers.

Whether campaigners helping with the revamp have an extra spring in their step this morning depends on whether a grant from Portishead Town Council for £17,250 was awarded last night.

The Portishead Pool Community Trust has applied for the grant to install an energy saving pool cover.

Last year some swimmers had to resort to wearing wetsuits in the heated pool because water temperatures were so low.

Trust chairman Roger Whitfield said: "I cannot underestimate the importance of the pool cover, it is without doubt the single most important energy saving device we will install and it really will make the difference between success and failure.

"There are many reasons why the pool has been cold, not least the cost of the heating oil that has increased steadily year on year, but above all the main reason for a cold pool is a lack of overnight insulation.

"The lack of a pool cover means that the energy put into the pool during the day is lost again at night, so without it we will have to constantly burn oil overnight to maintain water temperature.

"However with a pool cover in place the pool will retain more than 80 per cent of the heat that would normally be lost."

Portishead Town Council was due to make a decision on awarding the grant after the Mercury went to print last night.

Town council chairman David Pasley said there was money available within the council's budget to make the grant if it wished to.

He added he was personally in favour of supporting the trust's application.

Since the trust was formed last year after North Somerset Council announced it was intending to close the pool it has galvanised public support for the pool.

More than £10,000 has been raised through fundraising to refurbish the pool.

But Mr Whitfield said getting the TV programme onboard will enable it to get much of the work scheduled for the next five years done in the space of a week.

A number of local building firms have either donated their time or materials to the pool trust free of charge to get the pool up and running for the season.

For a report on the council debate about awarding the trust the £17,250 grant and updates on the revamp visit our website - www.thisissomerset.co.uk/clevedon.

Anyone who hasn't witnessed Ty Pennington's high-octane act can view clips of him in action in the USA by reading this story on our website.