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Wednesday 25 July 2012

1930's - Enjoying a Swim: Sepia Saturday

Summer Sports is the theme of this week's Sepia Saturday postings at http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/sepia-saturday-136-28-july-2012.html

My ancestors were not a particular sporty lot as far as I far as I am aware, and these are the nearest images in my collection to reflect this week's  summer sports theme.


Here my mother Kathleen Danson, her youngest sister Peggy and her great friend that I knew as Auntie Phyllis were enjoying the outdoor South Shore Swimming Pool at Blackpool in the 1930's. 

Two decades later in the 1950's,  I remember Mum taking my brother and I there for a swim.  In that era it was also a popular venue for beauty contests   It was later demolished and I think the site is now a car park - a sad end to an iconic 1930's playground.



 


Copyright © 2012 · Susan Donaldson.  All Rights Reserved


12 comments:

  1. Bathing caps...does anyone wear them anymore..other than at the Olympics? We always did when I was young -at least in a pool.

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  2. Your mother was ahead of her time with those strappy sandals.

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  3. There is a look and almost a feel about all those old 1930s outdoor swimming Lido's. I remember the one at New Brighton, just looked like the one in your photo. Great post, thanks

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  4. Shame most of the outdoor swimming pools went. Were they more hardy in those days or was the weather better. Whichever it was it looks lovely in your photos.

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  5. I was never keen on swimming but have vivid memories of the outdoor swimming pool in the nearest town. Otherwise it was a case of using the two nearby rivers back in the 1950s.
    Somehow the indoor pools now with their artificial waves are not the same as the sea.
    Great photo memories.

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  6. This is so neat! I remember those silly swimming caps. They did away with them when boys started wearing their hair long and wouldn't be caught dead in them, lol.

    We had a pool right down the street from us and spent our summer days hanging out with our friends there. Your pictures brought back memories of my own.

    Kathy M.

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  7. We got our first swimming pool in my town in 1951. We lived next door and I took swimming lessons and became a lifeguard at the pool. Spent the entire day there several years and now I have the skin problems to prove it. Great post.
    QMM

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  8. Oh my, what fun! Your Mother is wonderful, it's exciting having these family photos to treasure from days ago and then share them with us! Thanks!

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  9. Wonderful photos Sue. It's sushc a shame that the otdoor swimming pools and 'Lidos' have now nearly all gone. If you didn't hear BBC Radio 4's 'Excess Baggage' programme in January, here's a quick link:

    Excess Baggage,

    "Susie Parr explains her ten year quest to chart the history of outdoor bathing in the UK. To that end, she has swum in chilly harbour waters, at glorious beaches and in once stylish lidos." Enjoy!

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  10. Thank you to everyone for such wonderful comments on my family photographs.

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  11. I grew up using outdoor pools, and never quite got used to heated indoor ones. Your photos are very much "of the era" - thanks for sharing them.

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