MORE than 750 people who use a special swimming pool for the disabled each week will benefit from an extension and major improvements partly funded by the Lotto.

Lord Joffe, who as Allied Dunbar vice-chairman Joel Joffe opened Thamesdown Hydrotherapy Pool in 1979, will be back to declare the new extension open tomorrow.

His firm's charitable trust had contributed £80,000 towards the £120,000 initial costs of building and equipping the pool, which is in Jefferies Avenue, off Cricklade Road.

The extension, costing more than two and a half times that sum, doubles the size of the changing area, extends the car park and adds new equipment, including an overhead harness system that can carry people from wheelchairs and stretchers through the building and then into the water.

"It's a tremendous asset. It means we can eliminate the kind of body lifting that injures helpers' backs," said Peter Jones, chairman of the Hydrotherapy Pool Association and a trustee of the Swindon charity which runs it.

The pool is now recording more than 36,000 visits a year by swimmers suffering from serious physical disabilities for whom weight- lessness in warm water makes possible a vital form of exercise .

Users include people suffering from cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, strokes, back injuries, severe arthritis, paralysis caused by head injuries, heart defects and rare nervous disorders.

Two Swindon special schools for handicapped youngsters buy regular pool times for their pupils.

"Our users range in age from six months to 93," said manager Paul Charlwood, who has worked there for nearly 23 years. "And the numbers are growing. This week I have had inquiries from Bristol and Oxfordshire."

The Hydrotherapy Pool Association received a £214,000 Lotto grant towards the cost of the extension, and £25,000 came from the proceeds of the Marriott charity ball. The Lords Taverners also gave £5,000. The rest was raised by the Friends of Thamesdown Hydrotherapy Pool.

The group's chairman, Mike Baxter, who is also a trustee, said the new facilities would allow more people to use the pool.

The pool's annual running costs of £80,000 are covered partly from fees paid by the users.