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Rivacre Baths
After the war, however most summers saw the pool trying to cope with far more people than it was intended to accommodate and, perhaps inevitably, the gardens and pool deteriorated in appearance even though the facilities offered were improved by the council.
The pool became very widely known and was popular with people from all over the Wirral and other parts of Cheshire.
Site of Rivacre Baths - OS Map 1958
(Rivacre Road is on the bottom left)
In all, sixteen tenders were opened in respect of the pump house, fencing and the construction of the Pool.
The building work was then started at the earliest possible date (lead by Harry Fairclough, a contractor from Warrington and the site manager) to finish in July the following year, but it finished ahead of schedule in early August that same year.
MAY
Week Days
. 8 am to 8 pm
Sundays
.. 8 am to 8pm
JUNE AND JULY
Week Days
. 8 am to 10 pm
Sundays
.. 8 am to 9 pm
AUGUST
Week Days
. 8 am to 9 pm
Sundays
.. 8 am to 8 pm
SEPTEMBER
Week Days
. 8 am to 9 pm
Sundays
.. 8 am to 8 pm
This was the timetable for the 1937 Swimming Season, which started on the 8th May 1937.
No child of school age and under 15 years of age was admitted to the Pool, either as a bather or as a spectator, between the hours of 1 pm and 4 pm on Sundays unless accompanied by one or both of his or her parents.
A local Swimwear shop
A local county electricity supplier
The Rivacre Baths building Contractor
None of the prisoners availed themselves of the opportunity made possible in June of 1947 to use the pool in organized parties for one hour (between 8 and 9 am) on Sundays at a fee of 10 shillings per session.
Various reasons were given for their non-use of the pool, one being that, in common with most Englishmen, Germans like to stay on a Sunday morning in bed for an extra hour or two.
It was explained that normally the 10 shilling fee would have been paid out of the P.O.W. Camp Welfare Fund, but as the prisoners received payment in English money (plus "tokens" which can only be used in the camp) the Commandant, in a letter to the Council, thought the prisoners could pay to go to the pool if they so desired.
Councillor S. Edwards said the prisoners apparently wished to have the same facilities for using the pool as English civilians and he, personally, would like to see them given the normal use of the pool.
Councillor W. P. Cartwright said he had talked with a German prisoner, whose explanation about the non-attendance of his colleagues at the pool was that they worked on farms, putting in a great deal of overtime and, like Englishmen, they looked forward to staying in bed for an extra hour or two on a Sunday morning. They apparently considered the 8 to 9 am hour was too early, and now that the ban on the use of English sterling had been lifted (Councillor Cartwright) thought they could be given the same facilities as ordinary civilians.
The Chairman of the Baths and Parks Committee (Councillor C. Hayward) also thought the prisoners should be allowed to use the pool as "ordinary human beings". He also suggested that as they did not receive much English money the prisoners should be admitted to the pool at the reduced fee of 3d. each.
Councillor Mrs. Donoghue was of the opinion that the reduced charge should also apply to British serving men and women.
Councillor G. Astbury said a reduced fee would be justified by the fact that the prisoners would not use the lockers for their clothes, which were usually placed in charge of a "picket" from the camp.
Councillor S. Peers said it was reasonable to charge a reduced fee if the prisoners attended in batches of ten or twenty, but if they went singly they should pay ordinary fee.
The committee decided to offer the prisoners the swimming pool facilities at the reduced admittance fee of 3d. each.
The local people responded by not turning up to swim on Sunday mornings and sometimes would be completely deserted apart from some German prisoners, there were reports that some regular English swimmers stop going all together because of the German prisoners and other people lost trust in the council.
Day's events included:
Exhibitions of swimming, diving by
Norman Wainwright (Hanley A.S.C.)
(Olympic Games, 1936, and holder of 5 British Records).
F. W. Parrington (Liverpool Police A.S.C.)
(Holder of British Record for long plunge).
C. S. Smith (Southport A.S.C.)
(Water-polo International)
C. J. Burgess (Liverpool Police A.S.C.)
(Holder N.C. 200 yards breast stroke).
And Others
Club Events
Valuable Prizes on show in Messrs. Caswells'.
Ladies
2 widths handicap, Junior.
2 widths handicap, Senior.
Breast Stroke; Best Style. Senior or Junior.
Novelty Race, Senior or Junior.
Men
55 yards handicap, Junior.
55 yards handicap, Senior.
55 yards Obstacle, Senior or Junior.
Diving Contest, Senior or Junior.
Novelty Race, Senior or Junior.
The Rivacre Baths said they would give 10 shillings to the 40,000th visitor.
Attendances at the Rivacre Baths began to drop rapidly before the opening of the Northgate Arena Pool in Chester, mostly because of the weather. In the summer of 1977, there were ten weeks of bad weather, compared with 1976's summer, attendances at the pool nose-dived by more than 56,000.
At the indoor pool (EPIC) in 1967 between the end of June and the end of August, the attendances totaled 78,639. In the same period this year the numbers dropped to 54,778.
At the Rivacre open-air pool the comparable figures were 51,675 and 18,449.
Rivacre swimming was closed the following year (1982).
Last year the pool cost the council £38,000 to run and they received less than £1,000 in receipts. Members claimed they did not wish to see a further £37,000 loss next year.
Local people were asked pump out the water and drain the site of the Baths, and was replaced with greenery and ponds.
By Jack Devenport (Year 9 - Nov 2003)
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