Jimmy Burns - Editor Mike Bates - Production - Battersea Park

Recommendations

Info

The Battersea Society’s chairman Tony Tuck revives memories of the Lido project that slipped away during the Second World War… THE Second World War changed many things, nowhere more so than in Battersea Park and its surroundings.The Geman bombing campaign not only cleared urban sites for redevelopment, but sadly thwarted the aspiration of more local planners. One ‘nearly’ project was the Battersea Park Lido. Planned for in 1937, deferred in 1939, replaced in 1940 with anti-aircraft gun emplacements and allotments as part of the “Dig for Britain Campaign” , only to be quietly forgotten in 1945 and abandoned without a single sod being turned. My appetite has been whetted to track down the lost Lido of Battersea by a most delightful and remarkable book published in 2005 and recently re-printed by a local author, Janet Smith called “Liquid Assets – the lidos and open air swimming pools of Britain”.The book is the third in a series by English Heritage called “Played in Britain” which will focus on the architectural heritage of British sport – on the pavilions and clubhouses, the grandstands and swimming pools that form an integral part of the British landscape. More titles are in the pipeline (see www.playedinbritain. co.uk) This enchanting book charts the history of the lido from its earliest origins in the Peerless Pool in Old Street, Fins- MEMORY LANE Tony Tuck bury developed by a jeweller, William Kemp, in 1743. This was the first formalised public outdoor swimming pool built in Britain since the Romans left in the fifth century. Thereafter there is charted a survey of British lidos, including a planned floating lido designed by Alex Lifschutz in 1998,which was to be moored off the South Bank Though this never left the drawing board, the French do have one moored in the river Seine opposite the Bibliotetheque Nationale, complete with a retractable roof. But the ‘nearly’ Battersea Lido had its origins in a more prosaic set of circumstances. The former London County Council (LCC) made its first foray into a purpose built outdoor swimming pool in 1906 when Wandsworth Council persuaded the LCC to release land in Tooting for an outdoor pool – and to get the LCC to pay £200 a year towards running costs. The pool was then built as part of a scheme to provide work for local unemployed men. After the First World War a scatter of outdoor pools were constructed around London, sometimes built by unemployed men and funded by the then Ministry of Labour, but more often by local agreements, where the LCC shared running costs, but the local authority paid for construction. At a time when many homes lacked bathrooms and few workers had ‘leisure time and proper paid holidays, these open air pools were hugely popular. By 1931 the LCC had embarked on a new major programme of architect designed pools. Two LCC architects, Harry Arnold Rowbotham and T L Smithson, designed a series of ‘designer pools’ in fully enclosed brick compounds with purpose built changing rooms, first aid facilities and integrated water filtration systems. The style of the buildings was very distinctive. Janet Smith describes 16 it as being “…hard to place stylistically – being only faintly Art Deco, yet patently Modernist in character – and certainly never copied anywhere outside London.” But in July 1937 a major change in LCC policies took place. Rather than try to negotiate with often reluctant local authorities to co-finance and build new pools (some things remain constant!) the LCC took over the entire process of design, construction and management itself. Not only that, but the then Leader of the LCC, Herbert Morrison, pledged that in future no Londoner would have to walk further that a mile and a half to their nearest Lido. London, he said, would become a “City of Lidos”. The Plan in 1937 was to build five Lidos at Parliament Hill, Charlton, Ladywell, Clissold Park and Battersea Park. Only the first two were ever built. The other three, including Battersea Park, never left the drawing board – though the estimated capital cost for Battersea Park Lido had jumped from £15,000 in 1935 to £40,000 by 1937. After the war the immediate priority for scarce building material was for homes, hospitals, and reconstruction. By 1951 the Festival of Britain had taken over much of Battersea Park and the ‘nearly Lido’ slipped from view. Janet Smith whose book charts the fortunes of all the real Lido’s has expressed an interest in joining with me in seeing if the LCC archives contain any residual hints of what might have been in Battersea Park. We shall see….. – hopefully, to be continued. All the material in this piece was drawn from “Liquid Assets – The lidos and open air swimming pools of Britain” by Janet Smith and published by English Heritage 2007 The Friends are always interested to hear from past Park users; if you have old photographs, post cards, or just good memories of times in the Park please do contact us. The Editor, Friends Review 51 Brynmaer Road, London, SW11 4EN or email review@batterseapark.org
The rejuvenated Pump House Gallery continues to surprise Park users with its choice of art and design. David Firn, a Battersea resident and Financial Times journalist takes a look at the summer exhibition... Where is the Work brings together photographs of mainly temporary site specific works by Mathew Cornford & David Cross for the first time in London. The pair, who have worked together as Cornford & Cross, since they met at St Martins School of Art in 1987,say the large scale photographs are not merely records of their work, but are themselves art. Over two decades, they have created a unique and provocative body of work. Much of their work has involved sitespecific projects for public spaces, which responds not only to physical sites, but also to social situations and historical moments. The summer exhibition at the Pump House also features some of the artists’ unrealized projects and ‘work in progress’. Utopia, involved renovating a derelict pond at Bournville and working with the chief food scientist to dye the water ‘Cadbury’ purple.10, involved software engineers in a beauty contest in which contestants were judged electronically by facial recognition software that compared their faces to an ‘ideal of symmetry and proportion.’ The exhibition consists of one image from each finished project. Accompanying text sets the context for each project and gives the viewer an aid to understanding the work. Mathew Cornford says the text gives an “idea rather than detail”. They are hoping to provoke thought. Their site specific work is set within a particular context - social, political and physical- and the images are accompanied by text as a record of actions taken. Each Cornford & Cross project is radically different, in both form and intention. The British Empire, its rise, fall and its echoes are recurring themes in their work which is often named after classic tales. She - a proposal to install an eternal flame, next to the Maiwand Lion statue, ART IN THE PARK David Firn in Reading, takes its title from Haggard’s novel of African exploration and sorcery. The lion itself is named after a small village in Afghanistan, where the local population suffered war at the hands of foreign invaders over decades. The flame - of eternal youth in Haggard’s tale - fed by fossil fuel hints at today’s geopolitical tensions over access to gas and oil. Eclectic and demanding this exhibition may be, and one wonders how many park users will really come to grips with 17 it, or even find it relevant to their own experiences. But some Battersea residents might be particularly interested in Words are not Enough, another ‘work in progress’ with which Cornford & Cross hope to transform an abandoned nuclear bunker in Camberwell, South London into a temporary peace garden as part of Architecture Week 2007. If nothing else, it leaves one guessing what they might transform Battersea Power Station into, if given a free hand! Cornford & Cross, Where is the Work? At the Pump House Gallery until 5 August 2007. Open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays 11am-5pm; Fridays and Saturdays 11am-4pm. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Below: Why Read the Classics? Film light on reflector behind marble statue For Tra monti, Rome, Italy, 2005
Page 1 and 2: Friends of Battersea Park R E V I E
Page 3 and 4: THE POWER STATION Have we been here
Page 5 and 6: PARKWATCH A charming mid summer reh
Page 7 and 8: Unholy action LARGE chunks of grass
Page 9 and 10: FT in the Park PARKWATCH Foreign co
Page 11 and 12: In the continuing series of Nature
Page 13 and 14: fore breakfast, my father would tak
Page 15: As a travel journalist, Sophie Camp
Page 19 and 20: Below, a summary of the Friends acc

Jimmy Burns - Editor Mike Bates - Production - Battersea Park

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?