Now if you have to go swimming I can’t think of anywhere better than the baths at Deptford which was a grand old building and one which made you feel special because it had all the magic and grandeur of any Prince’s palace.
It was off the main road just past the Town Hall and seemed even to a ten year old an odd location.
Laurie Grove is a narrow enough street and the baths were sandwiched between houses.
But what it offered was magic enough.
It began as you entered and were hit by that mix of warm air, the smell of chlorinated water and noise.
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 chute along with diving platforms which were both a terror and an abiding source of attraction for the young offering a constant challenge to achieve the slide or dive without being stopped by the attendant.
Nor were the Deptford Baths the only ones on offer for just behind where we lived was the Peckham Health Centre.
It was here that we had our school swimming lessons made all the more enjoyable by those odd incidents like the day Paul Driver fell into the baths fully clothed and for ever after was known as Dribble.
And as you do I took both places for granted which was a shame because the Deptford Baths which had opened in 1898 just missed its centenary closing in 1991 while the bold experiment that was the Health Centre had long closed by the time I was old enough to know of its existence.
That said we used it as a nursery for my sisters for a while, and by one of those odd coincidences in the 1980s I came across a reference to it in a set of speaking notes made by Mr Barlow who worked for the Manchester and Salford Co-operative Society.
He had visited it in 1946 and gave a series of speeches to local Labour and Co-op Parties here in Manchester praising its achievements and arguing for more such enterprises.
Thinking back I don't know why we never used the swimming baths at the Health Centre or why for that matter we made the trek up to Laurie Grove but we did, and I am pleased that the building has survived and while no one can splash and shout inside its impressive facade, the building has been retained and is well worth a visit.
Picture; © Dr Neil Clifton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1786698
Laurie Grove is a narrow enough street and the baths were sandwiched between houses.
But what it offered was magic enough.
It began as you entered and were hit by that mix of warm air, the smell of chlorinated water and noise.
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 chute along with diving platforms which were both a terror and an abiding source of attraction for the young offering a constant challenge to achieve the slide or dive without being stopped by the attendant.
Nor were the Deptford Baths the only ones on offer for just behind where we lived was the Peckham Health Centre.
It was here that we had our school swimming lessons made all the more enjoyable by those odd incidents like the day Paul Driver fell into the baths fully clothed and for ever after was known as Dribble.
And as you do I took both places for granted which was a shame because the Deptford Baths which had opened in 1898 just missed its centenary closing in 1991 while the bold experiment that was the Health Centre had long closed by the time I was old enough to know of its existence.
That said we used it as a nursery for my sisters for a while, and by one of those odd coincidences in the 1980s I came across a reference to it in a set of speaking notes made by Mr Barlow who worked for the Manchester and Salford Co-operative Society.
He had visited it in 1946 and gave a series of speeches to local Labour and Co-op Parties here in Manchester praising its achievements and arguing for more such enterprises.
Thinking back I don't know why we never used the swimming baths at the Health Centre or why for that matter we made the trek up to Laurie Grove but we did, and I am pleased that the building has survived and while no one can splash and shout inside its impressive facade, the building has been retained and is well worth a visit.
Picture; © Dr Neil Clifton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1786698
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