THE OUTDOOR swimming pool in Bourne which is about to open for the summer season marks its 90th anniversary this year, having been the place for a dip on a hot day for almost a century and is now one of the oldest lidos in the country. Yet it could quite easily have been built elsewhere in the town.  

The present location was originally a carp pond to provide food for the monks of Bourne Abbey but was not the first choice when a pool was suggested in the late 19th century when bathing was becoming popular throughout Britain. 

A public meeting was held in June 1891 to discuss the scheme and various sites were put forward, notably St Peter’s Pool, but the idea was rejected because it would ruin such a picturesque spot which was also home to kingfishers and other rare birds. A second suggestion was an expanse of water 200 yards west of Baldock's Mill but there were objections because it might interfere with the rights of mill owners, the town having three working watermills dependent on the Bourne Eau at that time. 

A third suggestion was Burdwood's Pit, a stretch of water owned by Dr James Watson Burdwood, the Medical Officer of Health, although in reality little more than an extension of the Car Dyke and located at the base of the embankment of the Bourne to Sleaford railway line and although it was 16 feet deep in places, many thought it could be made suitable for public bathing. 

The meeting could not agree on any of them and the idea was shelved for almost three years until it was revived by Cecil Bell, a local solicitor, who chose a piece of land to the south of St Peter's Pool as the site, now part of the Wellhead Gardens. He engaged an architect who specialised in the design of swimming baths and plans were drawn up for a pool 90 feet by 40 feet, the depth varying from 3 feet 6 inches to 6 feet and the floor laid from 400 cubic yards of super cement. Provision would also be made for eight dressing boxes or changing rooms and an open central shed, all covered in, and the complex surrounded by high fencing to ensure the strictest privacy. 

The project was costed at £300 and another public meeting was called in April 1894 to discuss raising the money but when opinion in the town was canvassed over the issue of ten shilling shares to form a liability company, there was insufficient interest. The idea petered out and it was to be another 20 years before it eventually came to fruition.  

During the years following the Great War of 1914-18, there was an upsurge in the provision of leisure amenities and a swimming pool for the town was again high on the agenda but this time, the carp pond next to the vicarage gardens was the most suitable place, having become a popular haunt for the local lads taking a dip during the summer months. A local committee was formed to clean it out and make it suitable for bathing including the erection of dressing rooms at either end and an approach to the baths from Coggles Causeway.  

The official opening was performed by Lady Kesteven on Saturday 12th August 1922 when she stressed the need for boys and girls to learn to swim and made particular mention of an heroic act by a ten-year-old lad who had saved two people from drowning after they had got into difficulties out of their depth. The pool was primitive by today's standards, unheated and with corrugated iron sides, and swimmers could often feel the eels wriggling between their toes as they walked on the muddy bottom.  

The site was taken over by Bourne United Charities with the acquisition of the Abbey Lawn in 1931 and the following year major improvements were carried out to create a pool 154 feet long and 50 feet wide, lined with reinforced concrete and a paved path running round the edge. The depth of the water at the shallow end was 2 feet 9 inches and 7 feet 3 inches at the deep end with new four-tier diving boards 14 feet high and two additional spring boards. A lawn around the sides of the bath was laid and there were several flower beds and rockeries. The water was supplied by the Bourne Eau and filtered through a coke bed and the bath was both filled and emptied by the gravity of the water, thus obviating the necessity of a pump.  

From these early beginnings, the present outdoor pool has grown in size with the regular addition of new facilities and rarely a year goes by without important improvements being made. The result is that the pool is now just under the official Olympic length of 50 metres and is heated to a pleasant 27-30 degrees C during its opening period from June to September. There are indoor changing rooms with toilets, showers and lockers, extended lawns with seating and picnic tables, attractive gardens with hanging baskets, a takeaway café and refreshment area. Qualified lifeguards are on duty at all times while first aid and life-saving equipment are kept continuously at the poolside.  

In 1990, after it had become part of South Kesteven District Council’s leisure activities programme, the pool survived the threat of closure when Mrs Lesley Patrick, later to become Mayor of Bourne, led a vigorous public protest to keep it open and from this campaign, the present Outdoor Pool Preservation Trust was formed to secure its future.  

It was therefore a satisfying moment for everyone involved when in 2006, the pool became recognised as one of the finest lidos in the country by being named by the Observer newspaper as being among the best places in Britain to swim outdoors and here in Bourne it remains one of our most popular recreational spots in summer.