Sports history expert Professor Martin Polley has lent his support to a campaign to save Britain’s historic swimming pools.
Prof Polley, director of De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s International Centre for Sports History and Culture, was a keynote speaker along with TV personality and heritage campaigner Loyd Grossman at the campaign launch at Golden Lane Baths in London.
Historic Pools of Britain will celebrate the contribution to social and architectural history of the hundreds of indoor and outdoor pools in the UK, mostly pre-dating 1939.
Many of the country’s heritage baths are in a fragile state. Of the 116 listed baths buildings in the country, 52 are operational or in the process of being refurbished.
Last week the campaign kicked off by launching a membership programme which aims to campaign, lobby and network along with making joint funding applications to preserve pools.
It was featured on BBC Breakfast with Prof Polley and Mr Grossman being interviewed poolside at Camberwell Baths, dating from 1892, about the importance of the pools in the social history of Britain.
Prof Polley said: "Britain has an amazing heritage in this area, thanks largely to the civic responsibility for health and hygiene that came out in the 1846 Baths and Washhouses Act.
"These pools are the physical legacy of that Victorian initiative. But they are not just museum pieces - they still play a key role in communities today, and their destruction is leaving gaps in the social fabric. This is a cause that historians should promote, both for its preservation of our built environment, and for its role in contemporary health and well being."
Loyd Grossman CBE FSA, chair of the Heritage Alliance, said: “We have a responsibility to protect this important part of our architectural and social heritage.
“I know from my own experience with the Heritage Alliance that joining forces to campaign, build advocacy and share knowledge will go a long way to support community groups of passionate volunteers who are fighting for their local pool, recognising it as an asset not a liability.”
It comes as campaigners fighting to save pools from development or closure have been successful at events across the country in Newcastle, Aberdeen, Manchester and Bath.
Posted on Tuesday 6 October 2015