White Rock Baths

[Allen]

I was talking about these the other day and came across a bit of a gap in my memory - I can't remember exactly how things worked. I'm sure there are people on here who remember swimming there.

You paid at a desk at street level and then turned left or right for either the large or small pool. At the large pool there was a row of changing cubicles on each side, one side for men and one for women. What exactly did you do with your clothes while swimming? I don't remember any lockers (but there are a lot of things I've forgotten these days).

All I can remember of the small pool is the red line on the bottom which you had not to cross if you were a non-swimmer - the bottom sloped steeply towards the deep end once you passed the line.

[Derek Jempson]

As far as I can recall, after undressing, you stuffed your clothes onto an open shelf, but I could be wrong. Was anyone unfortunate enough (like me) to have to take regular baths at White Rock?

[grandma]

Swimming in White Rock Baths. As one went into the cubicle on the 'dry side' the door was shut and a seat was pulled across the door so keeping anybody out from the 'dry side'. After getting into swimming togs the door opened to poolside and then it was a case of remembering just where your cubicle was. When getting dressed it was procedure reversed. Seat across door lifted and then out through the lounge via the tables and chairs and the all important hair dryer!

[mrh2-slos]

I remember the baths well, from when I was a child in the 1960s/70s. We moved into the area in the autumn of 1968, when only the small baths were open, as the large baths were undergoing repairs. When the large baths reopened the small baths permanently closed. I remember going from West St Leonards and later the Grove Schools. Seawater was used until about the mid-70s when it was changed to fresh, perhaps the sea was considered too dirty at the time. The baths closed in the summer of 1980 when the new Sports Complex at Summerfields was opened. The baths were briefly converted to an ice rink, after which the buildings were disused until the recent conversion to a BMX facility, I am uncertain whether it was the large or small baths converted for these uses. I hope you find this information useful.