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| Victoria Baths, 1905 |
They were relatively cheap, and many doubled up as a place to wash the family.
In my case there were two that we visited. The first was the Laurie Grove Baths in Deptford.
It had been built between 1895-98 “by the vestry board of St Paul's Deptford under the Public Baths and Washhouses Act 1846. As well as a large and a small swimming bath the 1st floor had 1st class Ladies and Men's Slipper Baths.
These individual baths were provided for personal bathing as working class people did not have bathrooms in their own homes. There were also washhouses (laundries) which later had early washing machines installed. On the ground floor there were separate entrances for men and women linked by a ticket office.*
And like our own Victoria Baths these were ornate and grand. By comparison the pool in the Peckham Health Centre was a complete contrast, with its modernist simple design and large expanse.
I used both but it is of The Deptford one that I have the fondest of memories.
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| Entrance to Victoria Baths, 1905 |
And even before you had bought your ticket and gone through the turn style the hot sticky atmosphere made your winter clothes stick to you, which continued as you walked along the pool side to the changing rooms.
The bigger of the two contained a water shute along with diving platforms which were both a terror and an abiding source of attraction for the young and a constant challenge to achieve the slide or dive without being stopped by the attendant.
But for many the Baths were less a place of fun and more an essential to everyday life. Most offered a laundry and of course the slipper bath.
We were lucky in that we had a bathroom but my friend John and his siblings would make the short journey across the road armed with soap and then own towels.
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| Miles Platting Public Wash House, 1950 |
And it is no good fastening on the lighter moments, like the day Paul Driver fell into the baths fully clothed and for ever after was known as Dribble.
Such stories just confirm that Dad’s youth is as distant to them as the first flight of the Wright Brothers or the opening episode of Coronation Street in 1960.
My childhood along with the many functions of the old Public Baths has pretty much receded into history.
The buildings themselves have proved too costly to maintain or have just succumbed to age and changes of leisure activities.
So the Laurie Grove Baths in Deptford was converted in to art studios for Goldsmiths College, and many like the Leaf Street Baths in Hulme closed when new pools were opened.
All of which is a nice lead into the talk by John Mather on the history of Greater Manchester Swimming Pools on Thursday September 5th at 1.30.
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| Sharston, 1966 |
Now that should have been the end but for a memory prompted by looking at the picture of the Sharston Baths in 1966 It was here a full twenty years after my first visits to Laurie Grove that I had the job of accompanying classes of year 7 students for swimming lessons. Not that I was expected to get my feet wet.
I saw them onto the coach saw them off at the baths and travelled back to Poundswick High School.
Pictures; First Class Swimming Baths, Victoria Baths, 1905, m51825, entrance to the Victoria Baths, 1905, m51823, Miles Platting Public Wash House 1950, m57371, Sharston Baths, 1966, m51865, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
* Laurie Grove Baths, Deptford, Greater London, Heritage Explorer, English Heritage, http://www.heritage-explorer.co.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=8307&crit=bathroom
I used to take arm cordination classes for Mrs McHale when she was coaching swimming about 1963-4> I couldn't swim then at 17 and was terrified of falling in.
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