Baby boomers will probably remember swimming after Horsham’s War Memorial Olympic Swimming Pool was officially opened by a former Mayor of Horsham, Tom Conroy, at 10am on December 14, 1956.
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More than 2000 people passed through the turnstiles during the first five hours of business. The words NO RUNNING by manager Roy Roberts were often heard by children years later. Some memories are of swimming classes to gain certificates, splashing water from diving off the diving boards, the kiosk, the drafty change rooms, the piles of push bikes outside as they were not allowed to lean against the fence and the Youth Club next to the swimming pool.
Prior to the new swimming pool, my father Col Jenkinson told me that he learned to swim in the farm dam with a rope around his waist held at the other end by his mother who could not swim.
In 1955, a Horsham and District War Memorial and Youth Centre Queen competition raised £10,531 for the town’s new swimming centre in just 10 weeks. The pool was built on land donated by Wilson Bolton. Returned Soldiers worked on the project, which historians say is an important living landmark in Horsham.
The Olympic size 50 metre pool was incorporated into the Horsham Aquatic Centre development in 2006. With a new filtration system and proposed changes to the edge of the outdoor pool, there needs to be fun family experiences such as a water slide, wave pool, diving platform or skimming on a board across the pool to encourage people to leave their air conditioned homes in Horsham’s hot summers.
The original Wimmera river weir was opposite the caravan park and the Horsham Times reported in 1895 that Horsham’s first primitive swimming pool was made when the council cleared out and snagged the large hole immediately below the weir and the two outlets from it, one on either side of ‘the island’ blocked up with barricades of sandbags, a small channel being left on one side resulting in an excellent swimming basin with a depth of water varying from two to eight feet. The water was occasionally freshened by an inflow from the weir and its purity thus preserved.
The opening hours were from seven in the evening one day to eight in the morning of the next with hopes of extending these times from six at night until nine the next day. It was proposed that all persons using the baths were decently clothed and that certain days and times put aside for ladies.
In 1936 the Horsham Times reported: “One of the largest crowds seen at the Horsham swimming pool assembled on Tuesday night at the weir, when, for the first time in history, the pool was floodlit. The popularity of swimming was growing daily and those officials in charge of the club realised the necessity of keeping up with the times as far as facilities were concerned...When the job was finished there would be a row of lights up the centre of the pool, in addition to those on the bank. The small membership fee of 3/6 entitled one to enjoy all the facilities... During the evening the spectators were treated to several swimming feats.”
Over the years the swimming pool had been moved to above the weir and enclosed by a timber fence with horizontal railings. The uneven bottom of the river meant that children could easily get out of their depth when standing up. At one time there were diving boards and a slide. The stones that lined the North bank are still visible.
The first fully lined pool in the district was at Zumsteins Crossing, hand dug by Walter Zumstein with some help from friends. This pool opened on Boxing Day 1936. Green Lake was also popular for swimming, sailing and water skiing and remains so today.