Westcliff Swimming Pool

A Memory of Southend-on-Sea.

I spent most of my childhood here, taught myself to swim and then to dive as I stood on the steps and gradually got higher and higher until I was able to stand on the side to dive , then onto the springboard. I had a season ticket which used to run from May to September and you were able to go twice a day on this and sometimes I used to go in the evening too which cost 1/-, the only problem was I only had one swimming costume and putting on a wet suit ugh! The swim suits at the pool were woolen and ended up down to your knees I only had to hire one once when I forgot my own. . The price of the season ticket was 10/- then went up to 12/6. The lady who marked the tickets was German as far as I remember. My friends and i spent most of the summer holidays here and one friend had a brother who was a lorry driver and gave us inner tubes from the tyres to use as a large rubber ring which 4 of us could get in, we never got very far as we were all kicking in different directions this would have been in the mid 60's..They did away with the high boards by the time I could swim properly to use them and I always wished I could have gone on the slides. I was so disappointed when the pool closed. I used to travel home on the 67 open air bus and get of at Chalkwell Park. Lovely memories