Open Air Swimming Pool
The open
air baths was a place you could go swimming outdoors. The entry fee
was one shilling which in our days is 5p. The Open Air Baths was closed
each winter and opened in summer. It was opened in 1935.
Queueing
for the baths
It was a very popular place in the summer. When it got very busy they brought out colour keys. When you went you might have been given a litle red key. So when you got in the pool you would have about half an hour swim. When the half hour was up they would say red keys out blue keys in.
The
baths, 1923, part of the Scenic Railway, built for the 1908 Exhibition,
can be seen in the background, right of the flag pole.
Mary,
she really liked to talk about the Open Air Baths. She said she liked
to go to the swimming pool. It was very cheap and enjoyable. There
were diving boards and changing rooms. They could go as long as they
liked. There was space for people to sit down and have picnics.
"In
summer there were more than 100 people lining up to get into the Open
Air Pool. It would cost a shilling to get inside."
"On
busy summer days the open air bath staff would give different coloured
keys and after half an hour the lifeguards would shout 'red keys out,
blue keys in!'" Eve