Nearly fifty years ago, Fair Field school parents raised the money to build an open-air swimming pool in the grounds of the school. Remarkably, they went on to build it too! It was a thing of beauty and for generations of Fair Field children (the oldest of whom would now be in their fifties) the pool has been a Summer term treat and a really valuable learning resource. If they can swim now it’s got a lot to do with the enthusiasm and application of those 1960s parents.
Headteacher Matt Johnson explained why we’re closing the pool last month. In a letter home he wrote:
This is all about the swimming pool space. After much investigation and discussion, the Governors have concluded that our pool has reached the end of its useful life as a place to swim. In order to use it, the pool would need significant regular capital investment, in the order of tens of thousands of pounds. With modern standards, maintaining and running our own swimming pool is not sustainable with the budget we are allocated from the Local Authority.
In another letter, he also wrote about our ambitions for the old pool. We’d like to do something useful and creative with the space:
We have a unique opportunity to do something exciting and original with our much-loved pool. Our pool was built by this community. The community has a lot invested in it. Our opportunity, then, is to consider what we might do with our walled off pool space and the accompanying brick- built changing rooms. We do not want to fill in the pool and turf it over. There is no benefit in doing that as we are not short of either playground space or field. Instead, we would like to open it up to the community for ideas. Obviously, whatever ideas we get, the budget will remain a constraint. However, the most important financial consideration is not so much what our project might cost initially, but more that it does not cost too much year on year to maintain and run.
So please come to Fair Field on Wednesday 26 May at 7 p.m. for a public meeting to talk about what to do next. Quoting Matt Johnson again:
…we will provide large photographs of the pool space, plenty of tracing paper, post-it notes, sheets of sketch paper, and large boards for you to pin your ideas to. We really want to encourage you to get involved, get thinking, and come along to share your thoughts on our future.
Steve Bowbrick, Chair of Governors
When I was at my primary school in the late sixties the parents raised money and built an outdoor swimming pool. Last time I visited, about ten yars ago, it had gone and there was no trace of it ever having existed. So well done for fifty years of a pool and good luck with commemorating it.
I once did a great show at Brixton Lido (while it was closed down), it made a great performance space. So I suggest you convert it to a performance space!