Originally Posted by Hattrickpatrick

Some shots of the official opening in 1929

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/li...uery/southport

Thanks for that. This thread brings back some great memories. Were we hardier in the past?

Circa 1950: Whatever became of this cute kid?

Not 100% sure this 1967 photo was taken at the OAP but its quite likely I think...

In any case its a great shot!

Source: https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2014/03/

Originally Posted by Graham

Not 100% sure this 1967 photo was taken at the OAP but its quite likely I think...

In any case its a great shot

If my sister had had a posture like the lass in the middle, my mum would have said "stand up straight, you look like a question mark" Thanks though Graham, it certainly looks like the OAP.

Originally Posted by xroads

Circa 1950: Whatever became of this cute kid?

He got very sunburnt!

Originally Posted by Graham

Not 100% sure this 1967 photo was taken at the OAP but its quite likely I think...

In any case its a great shot!

Tony Ray-Jones's Beauty Contest, Southport, 1967.

In these days of CCTV everywhere just imagine some of the sights to be seen if the pool were still open, especially in the sandpits.
Phil

I have happy memories of those long ago visits as a boy to the outdoor sea bathing lake on sunny summer days.
We were issued with a rubber ankle ring with our cubicle number on brass disc attached and I would first enter the water via a slide on the opposite side to the diving boards. I seem to remember it was always a shock to the system when I plunged down and hit that cold salty water!
One summer during the school holidays I had a job to earn a few bob selling ice creams and clearing tables in the café. The café was run by a Mrs Sharples and her son and I received the princely sum of two shillings an hour. It must have been around 1959 as Cliff Richards’s “Living Doll” was top of pops and it was played constantly through the loudspeakers. I would walk around the pool like a cinema usherette with my tray filled with choc ices and tubs calling out “Ices lovely ices” – they were all priced at six old pence – that’s 2.5p in new money – I recently paid £4 for a tub at a London theatre!
One of my days coincided with a beauty contest which I think was a regular feature during the summer – The contestants would assemble in the café before parading in front of the judges – many of them I remember would be smoking a crafty fag before emerging – no doubt to calm the nerves!
Mrs Sharples was a hard taskmaster as at the end of the day I had to sweep the floor and make sure that all the tables and chairs lined up perfectly – She would inspect my work by standing at the counter end casting her eye along each row to make sure that all were perfectly lined up.
By the time I left that job I had enough money to buy a diesel engine for a model aircraft I had built.
Happy days and like, others have said, what a pity that the bathing lake is no more.

Originally Posted by Classicmister

We were issued with a rubber ankle ring with our cubicle number on brass disc attached

That wasn't your cubicle number. It was the number of your wire hanger !!!

It was a wire frame you could put your shirt & trousers on. At the bottom was a basket you could put your shoes and other bits in.

The attendant gave you the matching number disc band when you handed your frame over the wooden counter. They then slid them onto a rail and shoved them along.

Was always a cold wind blowing through the changing rooms, even on sunny days.

I was in one of the little shops at cedar farm gallery the other day ....The lady is selling the exact same alloy clothes hangers that was at the pool ...
I don't know if they where from there but they are the same .....