By Monica Ilett.
Last night I was at the Peterborough Local History Society, not just as a member but also as representative of the Friends of Peterborough Lido. I was presenting a slideshow and a talk about the History of the Lido over 90 years, from its very beginning to the present day.
After an initial attack of butterflies, I soon settled into the subject which I have been researching over the past year in preparation for a book. This book 90 years of Peterborough Lido will shortly be launched for sale as part of the Lido 90-year anniversary celebrations
It had been some time since I gave a talk to a room full of people and at that time it was without a microphone, and my voice had to project to the back of the room. So last night, with a microphone, I soon realised projecting my voice wasn’t required.
The talk went well and apparently brought back memories to quite a few people in the audience who afterwards came up to me to share their experiences. Two of the members asked me, “when did the swimming pool become the Lido?” and this question has been puzzling me for some time. I assume it must have been about the time the Lido was listed as a historical Grade II listed building. If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to share the history of our Lido and want to say a big thank you to the Local History Society for allowing me to speak and to all those who attended.
Feedback from those who attended the evening:
“Very enjoyable evening bringing back lots of memories”
“Very interesting…… learned a lot about the Lido heritage”
“As a child, we spent summer holiday in Nasssington was taken on the bus to Peterborough where we the whole spent a day at the lido. It was the best day of our whole holiday”
If your organisation or community group is interested in arranging for us to present the History of the Lido slideshow and a talk for you, please do get in touch by emailing:- peterborolidofriends@gmail.com
