This weekend is Heritage Open Days and today I popped into a building very close to where I live. I wasn’t really aware of it until today but had heard there was some campaign to restore it to its former use. The building is Kings Meadow Baths an Edwardian Grade II Listed outdoor pool originally built for the ladies of Reading to bathe. Nowadays, nearly 100 years since it first opened the building is sadly in a very bad state of repair.
Local people have been involved in campaigning for bringing the building back into use and saved it from developers hoping to use the site for a hotel. There is an awful lot of work to be done but I have to say it really inspired me. It made me think of the programme Restoration
which was on the BBC a few years ago. This would have been perfect for that programme. They are looking to restore the pool area and also build changing areas and a cafe to be used not only by visitors to the pool but also the next door football pitches. They also have plans for the winter to turn the pool area into an ice skating rink – which would be amazing!
They are looking for lots of volunteers – lots of hands on people but also lawyers and surveyors. Which made me think I would put it forward to the local company I work for to see whether they might look to get involved. It would be fantastic to see a facility like that back in use. Outdoor communal pools and lidos seem to be becoming more popular again and it’d be great to see this one saved.
2 comments:
It is a lovely building. I hope soemthing can be done for it. Our local lido (build in 1930s) has been taken over by a group of locals and they are raising money to make it useable again. So many of this lovely and needed pools are like this.
Oh My...a lot of work is needed to bring this site back, but well worth the effort. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I love historic architecture. Cheers!
Lori
Post a Comment