By Monica Ilett
Idly scrolling through the internet this week, I came across an intriguing website page entitled “FINDING LIDOS – DIVE INTO LOST LIDOS” The website author was Ann Green Jessel, a former swimming and diving champion, who has recorded photos, memories and reminisces from many of the lost lidos in the United Kingdom. https://www.lostlidos.co.uk/
I was reminded that our lido in Peterborough was saved several times from being on that list. One of the most recent threats to close was in1991. Public opinion, helped by a local newspaper campaign and a City Councilor, who helped pay for repairs and running costs for two years, saved the lido. Last winter Peterborough City Council faced financial difficulties and the Lido was again at risk. This time, as part of the Council’s budget consultation here was a proposal to mothball the lido. The people of Peterborough once more responded and this time were joined by people from across the country. Their voices were heard loud and the proposal to mothball the Lido was removed from the budget and the Lido opened.
The Lost Lidos webpage was a fascinating collection of lost lidos and by scanning the A-Z list of lidos, and there were an incredible number. You can be transported to lidos of your youth with the memories and photos they hold .
One such lido that had memories for my family was the Larkswood Lido in Chingford Essex. An unusual crucifix shaped pool, it was the home of Beauty Pageants and the TV show ‘Its A Knockout.’ It also held the record for the highest attendance figures in the history of UK Lidos with 290,000 bathers during the swimming months of 1959. By 1965 over 3 million had attended. During the 1970s we often spent weekends in Woodford Green in Essex with my husband’s brother, his wife and their three children. On warm days the six cousins with their parents could often be found enjoying the waters of Larkswood Lido, followed by a picnic in the grounds.
I was a little sad that an open-air swimming pool that was part of my husband and my youth was not on the list. We both learnt to swim in the cold waters of Spaldings well used pool. School children were bused to the pool each summer where they learned to swim, and then rewarded with their swimming, diving and/or lifesaving certificates.
Built in Pinchbeck Road over of a big filter bed which originally filtered the town’s water supply, it opened in July that same year, by Sir Ernest Sleight OBE. The Spalding outdoor pool would have been 101 years by now if it had not fallen victim to the success of the new indoor pool that was built during the 1970s.
The mural of a girl diving on the outside front wall of the pool and another on the inside was painted by a Monsieur Andre Chaussedent who came to England in 1905, initially on a six-months contract but he stayed here for the rest of his life. He was a Belgian painter and interior designer who was contracted to paint and restore murals in the palatial home of Queen Mary. It is not clear why he came to Spalding, but he lived there during World War 11 and until his death, making his living by sign writing and mural painting. Cycling to his jobs on an old grocery delivery bike which held his paints, he was known around the town as Monsieur or Mr Andre. No-one knew or could pronounce his surname,
Also not on the list is Kings Cross Natural Swimming Pond. This pool must be the country’s shortest lived public swimming pool. The pool opened in March 2015, was built by the Kings Cross development and their partner BIOTOP’s Kingcombe Aquacare Ltd. It was designed as an art installation entitled ‘Of Soil and Water’ and was the UK’s first public natural swimming pond. The 40m long, natural, chemical-free pond had access to 8 changing rooms, lockers, and showers and was fully Lifeguarded during opening hour. The pool became extremely popular with outdoor swimmers, with more than 20,000 visitors attending daily to swim in the unheated water from opening. Sadly, the pool closed permanently in October 2016. https://bdlandarch.com/kings-cross-pond-club/
