onionbagblog

When is a free swim not a free swim? When the coalition government is used as an excuse by @LambethLabour not to continue with the local election pledge it made less than two months ago.

Ah yes – it’s a return to an old family favourite around these parts – that @LambethLabour election pledge of “free swimming for every resident.”

*sigh*

Almost two months after @LambethLabour was returned to power, has anyone actually managed a free swim at any of the borough swimming pools Brixton Rec yet?

Nope, me neither.

I appreciate that for pledges to become policy takes some time. What is not acceptable however is to make political capital out of a pledge, just because you don’t like what the ConDem coalition is doing up the road in Westminster.

We’ve seen this already in the Rotten Borough, with the mixed message being sent out regarding the school Academies debate (bad locally, but we’re still going to build one…) It now seems that swimming has become caught up in the political point scoring as well.

The axing of free swimming for under-16s and over-60s in the ConDem budget was a typical free market move. Pay to play etc, and sod the healthy benefits that are often needed by this demographic.

But the national ConDem swinging of the leisure axe has absolutely nothing to do with the local election pledge made by @LambethLabour less than two months ago.

Free swimming for every resident is free swimming for every resident. Simple. No ConDem opt-outs were made in the manifesto. The choice was clear for Lambeth residents – vote for @LambethLabour and free swimming will be rolled out.

Not so now it seems.

Already @LambethLabour councillors are starting to show signs of using the ConDem budget as the get out clause, rather than be held to account.

If manifesto pledges are dependent upon a higher power, then what’s the point in making them in the first place? You may as well live in fantasy Lambeth La La Land, promise the most ridiculous piece of local legislation, and then retract it whenever the electorate decides not to vote in your Westminster pals on a national level.

Keeping it local, and I’m still paying twice for my daily swim – once with Fusion for @BrockwellLido, and once again with Greenwich Leisure Limited for my Brixton Rec membership. Both pools are owned by @lambeth_council, but the pimping out model of public services means that residents get fleeced twice.

And so yeah, Councillor Bigham – free swimming for every resident? This blame game is starting to sound a little lame.

This piece was first published on Londonist, and appears (slightly) dated.

Brockwell Lido has offered outdoor swimming to South Londoners for seventy three summers, although sadly not consecutive, with four years missed during the early 90′s as part of a Lambeth Council cost cutting exercise. I am proud to be entering my fifteenth season as a swimmer down in SE24, and one that for personal reasons, sadly may also be my last.

The 1937 Grade II listed pool provides locals with a 50 yard unheated (hurrah!) stretch in which to swim, as well as a state of the art modern gym, housed away in a refurbishment that was completed three summers ago.

The awarding of a twenty-five year lease from Lambeth Council to Fusion, has been the savior of Brockwell Lido. The gym makes money all year round, enabling al fresco swimmers to enjoy lido life for the six months of the year when South London hits a heat wave.

Ah, yes – about that current South London heatwave…

The Happiest Day of the Year in South London was the morning after the general election. If the election results weren’t enough to give you a kick up the backside, then the tepid twelve degrees temperature on the first morning of the pool being open made diving in a personal political act.

The anticipation of meeting up once again with the lovely lido community is the inspiration to drag your aching body down to Brockwell Park at 6:30 in the morning. It almost made the months of misery spent bemoaning Brixton Rec seem bearable.

As ever, you’ve done the hard part by being in the park. Once you are poolside, then you are going to swim. With a wetsuit hugging my toned torso (steady) what could go wrong?

A great leap of faith into the deep end, and I had forgotten how the Happiest Day of the Year also leads to your head exploding, should you make the silly mistake of forgetting your bright pink swimming cap.

Bugger.

Halfway down the first length and I panicked. The arms and legs were functioning, but the head had long since lost circulation. I started to see things on the other side of the pool that all rational thought tells you simply don’t exist.

That wasn’t *really* a naked female swimmer, was it?

I persevered, and after five minutes of a frantic freestyle motion, my conscious existence soon returned to my well being. I looked above as a flock of geese passed overhead, observing my every motion, and I then broke out into a great big underwater smile that will probably remain all the way until the season closer come October.

A return to the heated changing rooms was a welcome respite. The continual blasting out of Radio Twaddle on the internal sound system is something that I, and other early morning swimmers, could well do without.

But a minor gripe in what has signaled the start of six months of early morning swimming and grinning down at the lovely lido. By the time I had showered and put back in place my three layers of clothing, I was just about able to walk in a straight line once again.

These will gradually be shed, one by one, over the coming weeks, along with the wetsuit as I acclimatise back into the routine of daily lido life.

The lovely Lido Cafe was open for the Breakfast Club, and the public art project from local artists Gethin and Myles, was proudly on display in the basin of the pool for those brave enough to take a dip. Memories of lido life from local users have been lovingly painted around the perimeter of the pool, as a statement of some form of private underwater reading club.

Expect the pool temperature to rise to around twenty degrees come mid-June, peaking at a positively Mediterranean twenty-five degrees by July. Best keep the wetsuit ready from here onwards…

A lido swim doesn’t come cheap at £5.20 per adult. This is a figure calculated more in line with the traditional lido ethos of having a swim, and then arseing about poolside for the rest of the day. Season tickets at £150 represent far better value for money.

The lido community is set to truly take off this season, finally having a functioning lido cafe upon which events can be arranged. Brothers Daniel and Duncan not only provide poolside refreshments, but also high class cuisine and an entertainment schedule during the evenings.

So yeah, fifteen years of putting the lengths in at the lido, and fifteen summers ‘wasted’ by sitting around the poolside doing bugger all.

Golden Days I tell you, Golden Days.

The Happiest Day of the Year in South London was put on hold this year. High hopes of a lovely lido season opening dip on the morning of May 7th were always unrealistic. Fear of a Tory PM put me off the ceremonial dive into the chilled waters of Lake Brockwell. Family commitments back in the Fair City over the weekend only further delayed that first lovely lido dip.

Tuesday morning was mine for the taking. A tepid pool temperature of thirteen degrees blew away the frozen b*****cks syndrome, still being suffered following that bonkers mid-winter lido swim back in December.

This truly is the happiest, happiest day of the year in South London. It signals six months (oh yes) of al fresco swimming in SE24, and a final removal of the shackles that constrain South London swimmers to suffer the misery of a soulless, sterile and sweaty swim indoors at Brixton Rec.

The anticipation of meeting up once again with the lovely lido community is the inspiration to drag your aching body down to Brockwell Park at 6:30 in the morning. It almost made the months of misery spent bemoaning Brixton Rec seem bearable.

But what of the beautiful blue skies and blue water being reflected out of the chilled waters of Lake Brockwell? The lovely @TheLidoCafe was open for the Breakfast Club, and the public art project from Gethin and Myles was proudly on display in the basin of the pool, for those brave enough to take a dip.

Ah yes, about that dip…

As ever, you’ve done the hard part by being in the park. Once you are poolside, then you are going to swim. With a wetsuit hugging my toned torso (steady) what could go wrong?

A great leap of faith into the deep end, and I had forgotten totally that the Happiest Day of the Year also leads to your head exploding, should you make the silly mistake of forgetting your bright pink swimming cap.

Bugger.

Halfway down the first 50m length and I panicked. The arms and legs were functioning, but the head had long since lost circulation. I started to see things on the other side of the pool, that all rational thought tells you imply don’t exist.

That wasn’t *really* a naked female swimmer, was it?

I persevered, and after five minutes of a frantic freestyle motion, my conscious existence soon returned to my well being. I looked above as the flock of geese passed over my every motion, observed the beautiful blue skies of SE24 and then broke out into a great big underwater smile. Five hours later and I’m still grinning now.

A return to the heated changing rooms was a welcome respite. The continual blasting out of Radio Twaddle on the internal sound system is something that I, and other early morning swimmers, could well do without.

But a minor gripe in what has signalled the start of six months of early morning grinning down at the lovely lido. By the time I had showered and put back in place my three layers of clothing, I was just about able to walk in a straight line once again.

These will gradually be shed, one by one, over the coming weeks along with the wetsuit as I acclimatise back into the routine of daily lido life. This is probably my final year of al fresco swimming in South London, and so after the delayed start, I’m keen to continue now for the duration.

Back at base and I took great pride in updating my utterly pointless daytum online abacus chart, carefully recording that yep, today has been an official Lovely Lido Day. Only another 117 days to take me out of indoor swimming hell deficit.

I should hit this target sometime around the end of September. I may just make a nostalgic return to South London for the Brockwell Icicles midwinter swim, 2010 style. This may even push my utterly pointless daytum online abacus chart back into the black.

Or even the blue.

Golden Days I tell you, Golden Days.

*6:29 in for the handsome chap in his fetching pink cap*

This is rather lovely – an art installation at @BrockwellLido, stimulating early memories of water and the freedom that modern day lido life represents.

Gethan and Miles, the creative pair who staged so successfully the wonderful Herne Hill Expo last autumn, are mounting another major project for the forthcoming summer season.

A call went out a couple of months ago for lido lovers to submit a few short sentences, recalling the imagery that water conjures up for them, and how early memories of water compare to the lido experience.

The prose is currently being transformed into a very public piece of art. Gethan and Miles are taking great care to inscribe the words in intricate detail all around the inner bowl of the lovely lido.

With the pool currently empty, it’s a race against time for the artists to prepare the project ahead of the taps being turned on for the traditional season opener of the Art Deco fair on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend.

I caught up with Gethan and Miles on a wind swept Good Friday. It was somewhat surreal to be walking within the lido pool, the scene of my summer swimming activity for the past fifteen seasons.

The feeling of tranquilly and calm within the space was evident, even for a rather miserable early Easter period. It is this very theme that the project aims to address, exploring the imagery, and making swimming something more than simply a physical feat.

This is another great example of how the lido has been opened up for community based activities, since Fusion took on the twenty-five year lease from @lambeth_council. The management of the lido is in the hands of people who truly understand the benefits that the pool can deliver, and the respect that the surrounds command.

May 3rd can’t come soon enough.