Today

Sally Wainman talks about her campaign to save one of the few remaining lidos in Britain.

"Broomhill Pool is an Olympic sized lido on the north-west side of Ipswich. It opened in April 1938 - pristine, beautiful and practical. The souvenir programme for that evening reflects the values of that time - a brief four minute speech by George Underwood, the mayor; then straight into the races, a water polo match and a display of diving by the Lucratics.

The foreword in the programme referred to the joy of swimming, but the main body of the text contained minute details of how the pool had been constructed, the exact thickness of the concrete at different points, the wonders of the new fast filtration system and so on. It was a testament to the quality of British workmanship available in the 1930's and a very far cry from the chaos that surrounds projects like the Wembley Stadium today.

For many years, Broomhill lido was the focus and delight of Ipswich summers, but in the late 1990's the crunch came - Ipswich Borough Council looked at long-term investment or short-term patchwork and opted for the latter, with 2002 set as the end of the line. Broomhill was "saved" at that point by the industrious work of the Twentieth Century Society, who were successful in getting it listed as a Grade II building. Listing a building does not necessarily protect it from demolition, but it does give campaigners a breathing space in which to rally support.

This "space" was used to full effect by some very fervent campaigners - the initial group included an architect, a carpenter, a Cross Channel champion (Mike Read), a retired journalist, a staff nurse and so on.

We used our various talents to good effect, raising a 16,000 signature petition, lobbying the local press and fielding a "Save Broomhill Pool" candidate in the 2003 Local Elections. We contacted Sir Michael Lord, because the pool was part of his Central Suffolk and North Ipswich constituency and were delighted when he responded positively and said he would support the campaign. By the end of the summer of 2003, the Council had agreed to set up an all-party Steering Group to look into the pool's future.

Many months passed; I stood again in the Local Elections, with the pool as a "single issue" and in the summer of 2004 we were jubilant when £67,000 was voted through for a Heritage Lottery bid by the ruling Labour Executive. But times were changing, the Iraq war had had its effect on the local Labour vote and suddenly a new Conservative/Liberal coalition took the stand and rejected the idea of an HLF bid!

Desperate times call for desperate measures, I scrapped any idea of a holiday in 2005 and put all my available money into standing as an Independent Candidate in the General Election; on the platform with Chris Mole, my slogan was "Broomhill Pool: A local issue of national importance."

With three years of steadfast campaigning behind us, Ipswich Borough Council offered £1m to the Broomhill Pool Trust, if we could find a way of establishing a robust future for the Pool, which included finding approximately £2m more to get the pool restored and re-opened. We campaigned again for the £67,000 that had been originally ear-marked for the HLF bid. After several more weeks of negotiations the sum of £58,450 was voted through in August 2005 to cover most of the cost of a full-scale Feasibility Study. A contract was drawn up and finally in January 2006 we had the thrilling sight of seeing surveyors up at Broomhill Pool, to give everyone an up-to-date picture of what was truly involved in saving Broomhill.

We are now three-quarters of the way through that study - a hands-on exhibition is planned for late August/early September. Site visits have been made to other lidos and members of the Trust have attended the two conferences held this year: Reviving Lidos (March 16th 2006) and the National Pool Campaigners' Conference held on June 24.

Watch this space, because we hope that Broomhill will rise from the ashes, to take its place alongside Tooting Bec/London Fields/Parliament Hill/ Brockwell Park and so on."