To publish content you need to register for a free account or login.

/ Homepage / Idle Chat /

Has anyone got a photo of the old Parkside Swimming Pool?

Sorry for the slightly random request. I want a photo of the old 1960s Parkside Swimming pool that they knocked down in about 1997, not the new one. I've only managed to find a pic of it from the demolition company as an empty site.

Stuff from the 1990's is always incredibly hard to find. It was just before the internet took off, no one had digital cameras and it isn't historical enough for anyone to bother scanning it in yet.

Anyone?

Published by Silent Rob at 1:35pm on Tue 28th August 2012. Viewed 14,246 times.
This topic has been edited, last edit at 1:35pm on Tue 28th August 2012.

I don't, though I can see it perfectly in my mind; sitting on a red plastic stool eating microchips in the cafe after saturday morning large inflatable play. I was a bit crap on the huge obstacle inflatable but I did like to spend a lot of time floating about on the giant floats.

Published by Rocket Dog at 2:25pm on Tue 28th August 2012.

I was never allowed to play on the large inflatable things at Haverhill pool where we went. We always went on the days that the inflatables weren't on because my father had strong views about 80% of the pool being taken up by children, leaving a small bit at the ends for adults.

One of the happiest memories of childhood were eating crisps with my father in the cafe after a hard mornings swimming though.

I only went to Parkside once. It seemed incredibly urban and dangerous because the deep end was much deeper than the 6 feet I was used to at Haverhill. You couldn't touch the bottom even if you tried. Even the Splash Centre in Sherringham wasn't that deep and that had a waterslide. Golly gosh.

Published by Silent Rob at 2:38pm on Tue 28th August 2012.

When I was at school there was a story that went round the playground about a fat man who did a belly flop off the top board at Parkside and his stomach split open and filled the deep end with blood and matter. This would have been in about 1988.

I am assuming that this is an urban legend unless anyone can tell me otherwise. :)

Published by Silent Rob at 2:40pm on Tue 28th August 2012.

We used to go to Haverhill too, I remember getting a 10p fizzy drink out of the vending machine upstairs at the end of it. My memory goes back far enough to remember being taken to Saffron Walden baths before The Lord Butler was built!

Published by Cmouse at 6:20pm on Tue 28th August 2012.

I'm sure I heard a similar urban legend as well, SR.

My brother used to be able to go down and touch the bottom at the deep end. He was probably in his early teens when we last went and by then he was 6 foot tall by then, so he had a headstart on the rest of us.

Published by Rocket Dog at 7:11pm on Tue 28th August 2012.

Anyone leave a floater ;-]

Published by daggg at 8:00pm on Tue 28th August 2012.

I liked the old Parkside pool better than the new one. The split belly story has been around for years - I heard it in the early 70s.

Published by Kuryakin at 8:02pm on Tue 28th August 2012.

This is one of the buildings in a book from 1970 I've got called 'Cambridge New Architecture', which I'll scan in alter. The book also features many buildings which have disappeared since I bought the book in about 2009 (Great Eastern House, Fire Station, Bradwells Court) and some amusing choices of building to praise, like the Snowcat.

Published by bad-timing at 9:20pm on Tue 28th August 2012.

Thanks BT, I'll look foward to it. I think that requests like these will become much easier in the future because we will just be able to look on google street view (assuming that google do an update and provide an archive layer option).

Published by Silent Rob at 8:37am on Wed 29th August 2012.

Old Parkside Pool

I found a picture of the inside of the old Parkside Pool, in 'Cambridge Evening News - The Story of a city' book. Not sure if this helps you Silent Rob, but it's a nostalgic pic! My earliest recollections of the pool are when my Dad took me and my brother and sister for a 'surprise' day out, only to turn up and find the pool closed that day. We probably went to play on some swings instead somewhere.

Published by trigger at 8:35pm on Wed 29th August 2012.

Old Parkside Pool from Mill Rd/Petersfield

Here's an outside view from the 1970 book. This is looking from Petersfield across Mill Road.

Published by bad-timing at 8:57pm on Wed 29th August 2012.

pool

Wooo hoo! Wan can be useful sometimes.

Here's an aerial photo of the new one under construction in the late 90's. I love how they appear to have dug the pools before they built the building, though it makes sense now I think about it.

Published by Silent Rob at 9:06am on Thu 30th August 2012.

Hehe - those pics bring back some memories! They had a really antiquated system where they gave a big metal clothes hanger thingie, which you put your clothes on and they gave it back when you handed in your yellow rubber bracelet. I always had a Wagon Wheel afterwards, up in the cafe that looked down over the pools.

Published by Old Rocker at 11:13am on Thu 30th August 2012.

... and there was an old 'cloakroom attendant' who appeared to get off on looking over into the cubicles to watch the little boys getting changed. Must be dead and gone now.

Published by Old Rocker at 11:19am on Thu 30th August 2012.

Now I think about it, I went swimming for a school friends birthday, and that had a cafe that overlooked the pool. So I must have been to Parkside twice.

The same schoolmate had a wagon wheel at school every single day for the whole time I knew him. Even in 2012, Wagon Wheels still aren't vegeterian. I sometimes wonder what they taste like.

Published by Silent Rob at 11:43am on Thu 30th August 2012.

Sickly mush :)

Published by Old Rocker at 11:45am on Thu 30th August 2012.

Wagon Wheels look like that have that really cheap thin chocolate on the outside, the same sort of chocolate that you get on the small easter eggs that you receive from spinster aunts as a kid. Not like the richer cadburys chocolate you get on chocolate bars and stuff.

Published by Silent Rob at 11:58am on Thu 30th August 2012.

Bit late on this topic, does anyone remember the aquarium in the entrance hall?

Published by david1963 at 9:24pm on Fri 6th June 2014.

The first place I lived in Cambridge was nearly opposite the old Parkside pool.

I went swimming there occasionally but still haven't got round to going to the new one.

Published by randomandtwisted at 10:09pm on Sat 7th June 2014.

I know this is an old thread, but just found this: http://www.iankitching.me.uk/history/cam/parkside-pool.html which explains about the history and refurb in some detail.

I've not been swimming there since the refurb and they put the big open windows in that passers-by can watch you through - creepy, wonder who came up with the idea for the huge windows and why it was thought a good idea...?

Published by MissRegaling at 3:29am on Thu 27th August 2015.

I like that site, there's lots of interesting things there.

I'm not too keen on Parkside as a pool either. The main pool is always really cold and it is always far too busy, especially the baby pools. I take my daughter there sometimes and she likes splashing.

Published by Silent Rob at 8:51am on Thu 27th August 2015.

My dad was a life guard at parksidepool from 1972 until he retired, I can tell you the man who split his belly open never existed l asked my dad when I was a young child and heard the same story. I remember the aquarium and fish. I spent my childhood in that pool and have great memories of the old pool, but I have never been in the new one.

Published by Kat1314 at 1:00pm on Thu 2nd June 2016.

Post a Reply

You either need to register for a free publisher account or login to post content on this website.