Congleton Baths, Late '50s, '60s.

A Memory of Congleton.

I too have very fond memories of the open air swimming baths in Congleton in the late fifties and the sixties. I can even remember Alec Coles. Happy days. The water was freezing and it was always best to run and dive in to get it over with! For me it was a cup of warm orange squash and a bag of Smiths crisps (with salt in a twisted blue wrapper) at the snack hut. Alec has really said it all but I recall the top board, which was 5 yards high I think, ultimately being closed off because a depth of 8' 6" of water was deemed not to be deep enough for the height of the board yet people had been diving off it for 30 years! The shallow end was 3' deep and there were red danger signs on the side of the pool just before it really started to dip. The baths was also a meeting place; a real focal point for the youngsters of the day. Sundays in the summer would mean meeting up at the baths, then after a swim walking the short distance to the Park to listen to 'Pick of the Pops' on someone's tranny.