From a pond to Forest haven

3:08pm Friday 4th April 2008

CARVED out of the gravel and clay of Hollow Ponds, Whipps Cross Lido was the biggest swimming pool in Britain when it opened, in a blaze of publicity, in 1932.

Left without a public pool for more than seventy years, present-day swimmers in Wanstead can only dream of the giant, state-of-the-art facility enjoyed by their 1930s counterparts.

The open-air pool, in Whipps Cross Road, held 1,300,000 gallons of water when full, and drew hundreds of swimmers a day from across East London and Essex during the busy summer months.

It started life as a muddy pond on the edge of Hollow Ponds gravel works in the late 19th Century, but was expanded and improved in 1905 by an army of unemployed labourers, specially recruited to carry out the work.

A miniature railway was used to transport the tons of gravel, mud and debris excavated from the site, which was drained, levelled, and reinforced for use by bathers.

Hollow Ponds Bathing Pool, as it was originally known, became a popular swimming facility, but suffered from regular build-ups of mud and silt from the natural springs that provided its water.

Concerns over safety and hygiene standards led Leyton and Walthamstow councils to join together in 1923, to fund the £7,000 redevelopment of the pool into a state-of-the-art Lido.

Thousands of tons of cement were used to line the bottom of the pool, which took more than eight years to construct, and boasted a twenty foot high diving board, racing lanes and a paddling area when it was finally opened in 1932.

The lido was praised in the national press for its modern facilities and cutting edge design, and was regarded as a blueprint for other outdoor pools across the country.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Lord Mayor of London and hundreds of local residents, including a gang of boisterous local youths who vandalised the pool during the proceedings.

The Woodford Times described the scene: "The water gleamed fitfully in the sunshine and the two sounds most heard were the bands and the droning of an aeroplane.

"The surroundings of the pool are buff coloured, and the dressing rooms, with their pillars, look quite impressive, standing out, as they do, against the background of the banks and the shrubs.

"Young hooligans, who had presumably evaded police at the opening ceremony and afterwards, had caused great damage to the banks surrounding the pool."

The lido proved an instant hit with residents, but continued to be dogged by hygiene problems due to its reliance on natural springs for water.

It was forced to close twice for cleaning during its first year in operation, after its water was found to be below acceptable standards for bathing.

The lido's popularity began to wane after the war, with the building of indoor pools in Walthamstow, Barkingside and Ilford, offering swimmers attractive alternatives.

Attendances dropped to less than 20,000 a year by the late 1970s, with persistent hygiene problems, and concerns over the safety of children accessing the pool through the forest, leading to its closure in September 1981.

The lido was left to deteriorate for two years, before finally being filled in, and reinstated as Epping Forest land, in 1983.

With the closure of Ilford swimming pool later this year due to leave Redbridge with just one other facility, swimmers in Wanstead may wish they had made better use of the lido while they had the chance.

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