Swimming pools & swimmers

On the last pic of of the ruins of the swimming baths, if you look carefully to the right, you can just make out the gantry which spanned the Sherbourne. This was a steel dam which could be lowered to dam up the Sherbourne, raising the water level to about 3ft for the fire brigade to use.

Does anyone, besides me, remember the Lanchester College of Technology (long before it became a university) using the site as a temporary car park in the early 1960s. I'm sure that we drove down quite a steep slope into what could have been the pool area or is my memory playing tricks? Thinking about it the parking space was probably too close to the road to have been the pool.

No, you are right. There was a temp carpark. I also used this carpark sometimes when I went to the Art School in Ford St on day release circa 1965. At the back of the ruined Triumph building was waste ground, the college was the other side of the road (I think the road is still there), it was here the council used for storing its rock salt for the winter. I think this is where the pool is positioned and the main part of the swimming baths is over the old building. Only trouble is, somewhere in the back of my mind, it is saying the carpark was more at the back end of the Cathedral? Just thought I would add, the carpark attendant would let us park for free as we were apprentices, nice man.

No way I'm afraid scrutiny. This picture from 1962 shows the new baths being constructed entirely on the south side of the river with the old baths still intact on the north side. The river was culverted the following year and became Fairfax Street. In other words the two buildings were always on opposite sides of what is now Fairfax Street. The gap between the old baths and Cox Street was the Midland Red coach station: There's a bigger version of the same picture here showing the Lanchester to the left of the construction site.

Hello Dutchman, I prob did not explain very well. Just had a look on the map and the road which I could not remember was Cope St. The college was on one side, the council used the other side for storing the grit and then the Triumph factory. Then in the ground between the factory and the Sherbourne were where the old air-raid shelters were. Also that's why I said in the back of my head the carpark was at the back of the Cathedral, because there was a very high wall at the back of it, Where the DeVere was, is or whatever is there now. The pic you have just put on is as I remember it where the baths are now. To add. The DeVere was under construction in 1967, and or the carpark, I know this because I had to buy a wedding ring at 9am, as soon as Samuels opened, as I was getting married at 9am. So I was late for my wedding and had to drive thru the building site steering round all the foundation holes, much to the amusement of the workers. I was late for my wedding but the bride was with me so it didn't matter 45yrs ago 4th March next month

Purely for reference this is a segment of map showing the position of the old baths relative to the surrounding area:

Hi scrutiny I remember playing in some small underground concrete bunkers connected by tunnels, both to each other and to the surface. Could these have been the air-raid shelters to which you refer?

The temporary car park to which I referred was on the site of the baths as shown on the map, but much closer to the road

Love to know where you get these from Dutchman? It is exactly as i remember. However I will clarify one thing. The college of art in Cope St was not the same as the Coventry College of Art in Ford St, although it became all encompassed together later on. The one in Ford St closed in approx 1969 and moved to temp premises along the A45. The college was for painters and decorators not for artists. I attended both for the two different reasons.

They are the ones, there was also some on the other side of Cox St but mostly filled in.

You can view the maps online at www.Old-Maps.co.uk but finding the right ones, downloading, converting to a usable format or posting them is a matter of some expertise. Thanks for that scrutiny Their original use has nagged me for nigh on fifty years!

Thats ok Dutchman, between us all there is a lot of knowledge out there. What stopped me going down into the shelters was the thought of finding a dead body. The homeless used to sleep in them and more than one died thru the winters. I always wondered if that was what happened to "Pinky", our own rag & bone man. Oh, thanks for the link. And another oh, I acknowledge the expertise Dutchman. But I am like a dog with a bone, hate to let things beat me, especially a machine, Dutchman, I've beaten it death, cracked it but in a totally diff way.

It was quite a while after the new baths were built that we demolished the old one because the new one was there when we worked on the other side of the road in fact i can remember having a bath there after i finished work one day.....

Hi, the car park in question was only a temp one and it was on Fairfax St after it was built, exactly where it was only knows but I do remember the high brick wall at the back. The position of the old and new baths were never in question.

I worked many times with Trevor Thomas both as an Official and as a Swimming Teacher. Trevor was the Senior Tutor who marked my Advanced Teachers exam (which ended with a happy result for me thank goodness). When I was running swimming lessons at Livi Road Trevor did a couple of teaching sessions for me and one of the mums said "who is that little man?". It gave me great pleasure to point out he had just come back from Team Managing the British swimmers in the Commonwealth Games at Seoul. I had a huge amount of respect for Trevor, what he didn't know about swimming wasn't worth knowing. I taught and coached for City of Coventry for many years and I still officiate occasionally.