SWIMMERS have returned to Herefordshire’s pools after coronavirus forced months of closure.
But one pool that won’t be welcoming people back is Hereford’s old LEA pool.
Once the place where thousands of county schoolchildren learned to swim, the Hinton pool closed in 2009 because of serious structural issues, despite a long running campaign to keep it open.
The site was sold off at “nominal cost” after 2015 estimates found it would cost about £5 million to bring the pool back into use, and it has since been demolished.
The site was redeveloped to provide new homes in the city.
But members of our We Grew Up In Hereford Facebook group have been sharing their memories of the pool after former staff member David Barrett, who worked at the pool during the late 80s and 90s shared this picture of a life-saving class.
The picture of children learning to rescue their classmates while dressed in their pyjamas stirred plenty of memories for members of the group, who shared their own memories of the pool.
Simon Addison said he and his classmates were bussed in from Holmer School every Thursday for swimming and life-saving lessons.
“I passed all my life-saver tests and had a little gold badge to wear,” Simon said.
“I loved swimming, and it beat having to sit through regular lessons.”
Kelsey Davies also remembered getting her badges at the pool.
“I already had private lessons so got my red and green badge in the first session. I felt like an Olympic medalist,” she said.
And other group members remembered the rather less popular footbath at the entrance to the pool.
“I remember going there when at Martin’s and trying to hold yourself up to get over the cold sheep dip,” said Ian Chatfield.
Christina Price said she would balance a foot either side of the dip to avoid the shock of the cold water.
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