Knaresborough Pool has now closed down, set to be demolished.
I'm gutted.
I practiced swimming there when I was just starting to learn. I spent all my childhood summers excited to go and then got chips afterwards, still smelling of chlorine, my damp hair forming ringlets and dripping on the T-shirt I got especially for our trip.
I loved going by there, it's as recognisable to me as the Castle and Viaduct.
I went for one last swim...
The spot on the walls around the children's section of the pool, where I would jump in what I considered a Deep End, while my mum held her arms out to me, was still there. I could see it. The big slide was just as fast as I remembered. Perhaps not that well recalled, as I skidded through it and shot out the other end before I could catch my breath! 😄
I went down it seven times!
Swam over twenty lengths.
I didn't want to leave.
Now, it'll no longer be there.
It will be razed to rubble and dust, replaced with Modernization.
And the new building they've already begun to put up is hideous, and a monstrosity.
The older we become, the more often this occurs, it seems.
I'll miss it, but in its place may be a whopping big complex (yes, in a historic market town), but this one - this pool - even after every brick has been taken from its foundation, will always be there in the memories of my childhood.
A sad, sad day.
🌊😔
Ama.
31st August 2023: last day open.
The pool's last FB post:
