In heartwarming fashion, a five-year-old from Ballasalla has helped save the southern swimming pool from closing down.

Maisy Sayle wrote a letter to Chief Minister Alfred Cannan pleading with government to keep her local pool open when her mum, Chloe Callister, told her it could be closing.

And she was overjoyed to receive a personal letter from Mr Cannan expressing his gratitude for her heartfelt appeal.

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture had made a recommendation that the southern pool should close due to budgetary concerns, however a financial proposal put forward has enabled the facility to continue operating within its current subvention.

But in Maisy’s eyes, it was her letter that made all the difference, and she can now continue going swimming at her favourite pool.

A tough conversation to have, Chloe sat Maisy down and explained there’s a chance one of her favourite places could be going for good, and despite getting ‘quite upset’, Maisy didn’t want to give up on a place that she loves and ‘feels safe’.

After asking a lot of questions to her mum, Chloe said she ‘had a little chat with her about pennies and explained a little about our government’.

She continued: ‘Maisy is a huge fan of the Royal Family, so after a tricky chat about whom Alfred Cannan was I explained he’s like the King of the Isle of Man!’

And in no time young Maisy had picked up her pen and began writing.

Maisy Sayle, aged 5, with her letter to Chief Minister Alfred Cannan. Inset, Maisy posting the letter

Her letter read: ‘Please keep my pool open. I have lessons and I feel safe there as it’s small. The NSC is too big for me.

‘Save my pool please.’

And to Maisy’s joy, the Chief Minister responded, which said: ‘I can tell by your letter how important swimming is to you and many others on our island; and we will do our very best to save the Southern Swimming Pool.’

Maisy told Isle of Man Today that she ‘loved getting post from the Chief Minister’. She said: ‘I was very excited to read it and I’ll keep it in my special box.

‘I was very happy when mummy told me the pool is not shutting down because now we can keep swimming there and when I get to year three I can go swimming there with the school’.

With pride, Maisy took her letter in to school to show her class mates, and can always say she did her bit to ensure the south have a swimming facility for the future.