This week's Sepia Saturday photograph (at the foot of my post) has the theme of Water. It prompted me to feature my mother, her sister and friend enjoying themselves in the 1930's in the South Shore Open Air Baths in Blackpool, Lancashire.
My mother Kathleen Danson, with her younger sister Peggy
Swimming
took off as a popular leisure activity in the 1920's as part of the
interest in improving health and fitness. The seaside resort of
Blackpool, like with so many initiatives, was one of the first to jump
on this bandwagon for building lidos, with the Open Air Baths at South
Shore opening to visitors in 1923.
At the time, it was the largest in the world. and its statistics are staggering. It cost £75,000 - equivalent to £2,248,000 in today's money. Built in a classical style with pillars and colonnades, (you can just make these out in the photographs). it could accommodate 8000 spectators/sunbathers, and 1500 swimmers. The dimensions met Olympic standards for competitions with a 100-metre length down one side of the pool, and a 16 feet diving pit with boards graded to 10 metres (from where you could see the mountains and hills of the Lake District). There were areas for little ones, fountains and slides, bars and cafes - so something for everyone. By the end of the 1930s, visitors to South Shore Baths had totalled over nine million people.
My mother Kathleen Danson
My mother's close friend who I always knew as Auntie Phyliss -
Look at those shoes - still in fashion!
Look at those shoes - still in fashion!
In that 1950's and 60's, the Open Air Pool became popular venue for international and national beauty contests and the location for celebrity photographs.
I remember Mum taking my brother and I there for a swim - unfortunately there are no photographs of the day. As it involved a bus and a tram journey to get there, I can't ever remember going again.
But,
you needed to be hardy in all but the best of weathers, as the water was
notoriously cold. From the 1950's holidaymakers were heading abroad
and becoming used to
the waters of warmer climes. Use dropped and the Baths became a big
white elephant.
The South Shore Open Air Baths were demolished in 1983 to make way for the Sandcastle indoor water complex. But for fifty years they remained an iconic image of their era.
The South Shore Open Air Baths were demolished in 1983 to make way for the Sandcastle indoor water complex. But for fifty years they remained an iconic image of their era.
Image courtesy of
The famous Blackpool Tower - photograph taken from the North Pier, c.1990's
Sources:
Based on a post first published in 2012
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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity
to share their family history through photograph
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The open air bath you showed & spoke of was large , but San Francisco's Fleishhacker Pool was a bit bigger. I saw it a couple of times when it was still open & remember thinking how absolutely huge it was. As for the bathing suits of the 1930s, they were pretty simple and certainly didn't do much to enhance a girl's figure. Today the choice of female swimwear is staggering and perhaps a bit shocking! :)
ReplyDeleteIt never occurred to me before but building a giant swimming pool must have been a big influence on new fashions in the 1920s. Who would want to wear the heavy wool swimsuits of the 1900s. What woman would suffer through the trouble of taking care of her long hair in a pool? And what about sensible shoes for walking around the pavilion? It's interesting to imagine how the popularity of a recreational activity brought about a change to more sensible clothing styles.
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