Nothing deters those determined to swim. The winter of 1928-1929 saw Britain in the grip of icy weather. Waterways all over the country were reported frozen and skaters took to ponds and rivers. The Cambridge News of 16 February 1929 reported in a jocular tone: ‘Eight hardy spirits took the plunge at the Town Bathing Sheds though it took nearly half an hour to break the ice. Many of them have hardly missed a day.’
The Town Bathing Sheds (wooden changing rooms built and maintained by the city corporation) which stood on Sheep’s Green have long been demolished along with the diving boards where local youngsters once performed spectacular swallow dives and daring somersaults. But along the banks of a half-mile stretch of the Cam, just upstream of the city, are small signs of a secret history of bathing that pre-dates the chlorine and concrete of municipal swimming pools.
In a walking tour taking place on 8 September as part of Open Cambridge, author and swimmer Jean Perraton will explore Cambridge’s historic bathing spots and look at the ways in which social attitudes shaped, and continue to shape, our enjoyment of rivers. In particular she will celebrate the joyful experience of swimming as “a chance to revel in the element that covers most of our planet” and look at the ways in which writers down the ages have drawn inspiration from the watery world.
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Image: Hodson's Folly on the River Cam opposite Sheep's Green
Credit: Jacqueline Garget
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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Going with the slow flow
29 August 2012
A walking tour of historic swimming spots taking place during Open Cambridge (7-9 September) will celebrate Cambridge’s shifting relationship with the river that flows through it. The tour is fully booked but the places it explores are accessible to the public.