Paddling Pool

A Memory of Newark-on-Trent.

My first memory is when I was a toddler playing in the paddling pool with all the moms sitting chattering on the benches.
When I was about seven (about 1972) I was allowed in the big pool but I could only just stand in the shallow end with my nose and chin sticking out of the water.
There was a big fountain as you paid your 5p and went through the turnstile. A café sold drinks and ices and beyond that was a play park.
There were very large diving boards at the deep end of the pool and a variety of changing rooms along the long wall overlooked by the college. The changing rooms were always cold and draughty. It was always packed in summer and I used to go every night after school for an hour before it closed.
Most of my childhood was spent at the pool in the late 60s and through the 70s.
It was always the same life guard and always the same sun worshippers strutting their stuff. The rest of us just enjoyed being in a huge play area with a pool to jump in and out of.
Happy Memories!