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PUBLIC SWIMMING BATHS
The Council has two public swimming baths - one at
Goose Green, East Dulwich Road and the other at Camberwell
Church Street. There are two swimming pools at each
establishment; the two at Camberwell and the first class
pool at Dulwich each have a capacity of 118,125 gallons
and the second class pool at Dulwich 88, 590 gallons. In
every case the dressing cubicles are sited around the
pools at bath level. Disinfectant foot baths and
showers are provided for each pool.
The swimming baths are used mainly by school children
from 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Mondays to Fridays; they attend
in parties of 20 to 40 at half hourly intervals and
receive swimming tuition either from their own teacher
or from an L.C.C. instructor.
After the pools are closed to the public in the
evenings, they are booked by swimming clubs abd youth
organisations for swimming practice and water polo
activities. Swimming galas are also held on some evenings
during the summer season.
The number of persons who use the baths has been
steadily increasing. The following shows the approximate
number of bathers at each establishment during the past
3 years.
Year
Camberwell
Dulwich
135,000
131,000
1957
1958
147,000
154,000
1959
176,000
156,000
The first class pool at Dulwich baths and the front
pool at Camberwell Baths are closed during the winter
(October to April). During this time the pools are
emptied and floored over and used for indoor activities
such as dances, meetings, indoor bowls, badminton, table
tennis, boxing and wrestling tournaments and so on. At
the end of the winter the wells of these pools are
thoroughly cleansed and disinfected, and any necessary
repairs and re-painting is then carried out before they
are again used for aquatic activities.
The second class pool at Dulwich Baths and the rear