Post by Les on Apr 12, 2016 8:52:20 GMT
This should be Maidstone swimming and washing baths.
By all accounts this was the last of the Victorian pools still in use in England prior to its closure.
Maidstone baths stood in Fairmeadow right next to the electricity generating company. I am sure many of you will be able to picture it as easily as I can, you would queue, with your trunks rolled into your towel like a swiss roll; when the sessions were about to start you would pay at a ticket window just under the arches of the building.
Because many people did not have bathrooms you could use the bathing rooms at the swimming baths. Sounds primitive by today’s standards but that is what many used to do.Of course being posh we never did, in fact we had our own bath tub that was brought in from the garden once a week and placed next to the fire and take it in turns to use. First one in was ok but as I was the youngest and they thought the water should be coolest it was not a pleasant experience.
I remember the lady who was the superintendent at Maidstone baths but cannot remember her name. Can someone help, please?
Although the lady in question never taught me personally to swim, I do remember when she tested us students for our twenty-five yards certificate. She would walk on the edge of the pool in front of us, holding what looked like a copper pole, in case we swimmers being tested lost confidence and had to make a grab for it. What delicate children we were.
I also remember this lady using what must have been the oldest bike in Maidstone and the rustiest to commute to work, and if my memory serves me well had a nasty squeak unless it was her ageing knees.
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By all accounts this was the last of the Victorian pools still in use in England prior to its closure.
Maidstone baths stood in Fairmeadow right next to the electricity generating company. I am sure many of you will be able to picture it as easily as I can, you would queue, with your trunks rolled into your towel like a swiss roll; when the sessions were about to start you would pay at a ticket window just under the arches of the building.
Because many people did not have bathrooms you could use the bathing rooms at the swimming baths. Sounds primitive by today’s standards but that is what many used to do.Of course being posh we never did, in fact we had our own bath tub that was brought in from the garden once a week and placed next to the fire and take it in turns to use. First one in was ok but as I was the youngest and they thought the water should be coolest it was not a pleasant experience.
I remember the lady who was the superintendent at Maidstone baths but cannot remember her name. Can someone help, please?
Although the lady in question never taught me personally to swim, I do remember when she tested us students for our twenty-five yards certificate. She would walk on the edge of the pool in front of us, holding what looked like a copper pole, in case we swimmers being tested lost confidence and had to make a grab for it. What delicate children we were.
I also remember this lady using what must have been the oldest bike in Maidstone and the rustiest to commute to work, and if my memory serves me well had a nasty squeak unless it was her ageing knees.
26