Congleton Baths

A Memory of Congleton.

Congleton Open Air Baths during the 50/60s.

It had the entrance of a theatre, 2 steps up with an overhanging portico and glass doors that opened up to a foyer. It was well painted in the colours of the day, council green and white. You could see the pool from inside the entrance and it looked so nice with the calm water. At the point of payment there was a turnstile that was painted council silver. There was a lady who collected your 6d for swimmers and 2d (I think) for spectators, some people had a season ticket that cost 7/6d which entitled you to as many admissions as you wanted. There was a competition amongst the kids to have the lowest numbered season ticket, number 1 or 2 being the prize. I bet there were favourites when it came to dishing them out (no proof, just a hunch), the lowest I got was number 6. Each year the colour of the season tickets used to change, and they were made of a kind of woven fabric with the warp and a weft made of strong threads. I bet if anyone had one now it would be worth a bob or two.
When you went through the turnstile you turned to the right and swimmers turned right again but spectators went straight ahead and entered the surrounding area of the pool. There were wooden stepped seats all down the left hand side, which was more than enough for the amount of speccys. The diving boards were terrific!! They were at the deep end shadowed by the gas bags at the gas works, phew what a stink!!
The changing rooms were cold, wet, wooden, chicken huts with cages that would fit into any modern poultry farm of the day. (I am sure that poultry farms are better than that today, so poultry farmers don't take offence.)
Why do men sing when they are put into an environment where they have to undress and there are other people around??? Maybe it's because they are insecure and protecting their own space. Maybe this is more common amongst the insecure macho males.
"Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley", "What Do Ya Want If Ya Don't Want Money", "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour On The Bed Post Overnight", only macho songs of course!!!
That bloomin' footbath was so damn cold that we tried all kinds of ways of avoiding it, from doing a trapeze act on the overhanging water pipes to trying to jump it completely. Flesh hits concrete hard and hurts!!! It was to prevent the spread of athlete's foot, but there was more athletes who avoided the foot bath with their feet than went through it.
The pool was absolutely great!! Blue, clean and inviting. After that first dive in, the immediate thought was, 'What the blinkin heck did I do that for???' It soon got rid of the Brylcream in your hair and shrunk the parts that only Heineken could reach.
The fountain at the shallow end was a marvel for its day, a cascading waterfall that I think was a part of the filtration process after the water had been heated in the boiler house, which was all pipes, valves, knobs and had a smell of chlorine. The superintendant was always busy, he used to have a broom that was connected to a 30 or 40ft pole for brushing the bottom of the pool. Apart from that he doubled up as the life guard. I think the biggest emergency I saw was when an eldery man lost his false teeth and the 'super' doubling up as lifeguard dived in (fully clothed) and retrieved them to much applause from the crowd.
The cafe hut was a wooden shack painted ocean blue to match the colour of the pool, it had 2 serving hatches that were opened from the inside and many times as they were opened they hit some unsuspecting youngster on the head standing outside. Smith crisps, Jammy Dodgers, Waggon Wheels, Mars Bars, but a mug of Oxo was everyone's favourite (a proper mug, not a plastic effort).
There was always shivering kids standing around, hand towels with holes in wrapped around their shoulders and the contents of their nose spread across their cheeks. Most had left their money (for a mug of Oxo) in the changing room and couldn't face that damn footbath again.
Car inner tubes were always a favourite which were used as floats, the trouble was the metal valve used to inflate the tube would dig into flesh. It left your back looking as though you had been a galley slave on a Viking ship who had been whipped by an impatient petty officer. Someone tried to bring in a tractor tube in but it got stuck in the turnstile at point of entry so that was a no no.
On many a good summer day (of which there was a lot of them in those days) the pool would get packed to the extent that it became impossible to jump or dive into the water, and for those who had the courage to do so would either land onto the torso of a hostile swimmer, or would make a good friend. Talk about making an impact!!!
When the Super/lifeguard blew the whistle, the pool used to fill even more with all the posers who had spent the afternoon sunbathing and wanted to cool down. Some swimmers who had been in the water all afternoon made a quick exit to ensure that they had a cubicle to change in private.
Here we go again!!!
"Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley", "Li'l White Bull ", "My Boomerang Won't Come Back".
Sunburnt, no Brylcream, socks inside out, but clean we went home

Alec Coles, Canada.