Viva Lewes Issue #130 July 2017

INSIDE LEFT
A BIGGER SPLASH
It’s summer 1932, and the Brighton Boys’ Brigade are enjoying a dip in Glynde Swimming Pool while on
their annual camping expedition in a field near the village. The week-long camp had become a regular
fixture in the BBB calendar, having been run since 1919. The Boys made quite a splash every year: the
villagers used to turn out to see them arrive en masse at the train station, and march, accompanied by
their band, to their camp field.
Perhaps one of the lads in the water is Ernest Albert Smith, member of the 26th Boys’ Brigade Brighton,
based in Queen’s Road Presbyterian Church. ‘We were a very poor family,’ he later wrote, of his visit to
Glynde that summer. ‘As my mother was unable to work and father suffered from an incurable disease,
finances were at rock bottom. Mr Charles Hitchings, who was my Company Officer, visited my mother
and agreed to pay for me to go to Glynde Camp for a week.’ ‘Chas’ Hitchings was a CO at the BBB for
many years; he is also on record as playing many times for the BBB Officers in their annual cricket match
against Glynde’s First XI.
We love the variety of swimming togs (some of them look woollen), the way some of the chaps are wearing
raincoats as bathing gowns, and the manner in which the leather ball appears to be stuck to the head
of the chap in the bottom left of the picture. The Brighton Boys’ Brigade still hold their annual camp in
Glynde, and still get access to the pool while they’re there.
The pool was built in 1902 on the orders of Thomas Seymour Brand, owner of Glynde Place. Originally
the water used was the cooling water from Glynde Dairy, en route to Glynde Reach. It has had its ups
and downs – a major fundraising drive in the 70s saved it from closure, and another refurbishment took
place in 2005. In 2011 the filter system was completely replaced. The pool is open to residents of Glynde,
Beddingham and Firle, and their guests, but there are a couple of opportunities to try it out this summer.
Love Supreme revellers can enjoy a ‘Secret Swim’ on July 2nd and 3rd; everyone else will have to wait
until the 5th of August, when the 149th edition of the Glynde & Beddingham Flower Show and Fete
takes place (12-5pm), and the pool is open to visitors for a 50p charge. AL
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