BC - RECORDS OF BATH CITY COUNCIL AND BATH & NORTH EAST SOMERSET COUNCIL
- BC/13 - Bath as a Spa, Cultural and Tourist centre: records of Bath City Council and Bath & North East Somerset Council's responsibilities for culture, leisure and tourism
  - BC/13/12 - Records relating to the Thermae Bath Spa
    - BC/13/12/1 - Records relating to the Bath Spa Project (1997-2006)
      - BC/13/12/1/1 - Audio recordings of interviews conducted to aid in the development of displays for the Spa Visitor Centre, Bath

Interview with George Ferguson on his treatments for polio at the Hot Bath and reminisces of the Roman Rendezvous.

Reference Number: BC/13/12/1/1/5
Alternative Reference Number: 0779
Level of Description: Item
Title: Interview with George Ferguson on his treatments for polio at the Hot Bath and reminisces of the Roman Rendezvous.
Date: 08 February 2006
Extent: Extent: 1 minidisc
Description: An audio recording of an interview with George Ferguson, who speaks about his early memories of treatments at the Spa Treatment Centre, Bath, to strengthen his leg after damage due to polio. He also talks about the Roman Rendezvous nights.

This interview, along with others, was conducted to aid in the development of visitor displays at the Spa Visitor Centre, which opened in August 2006. Details of the location of the recording have not been captured and it is not clear who is conducting the interview.

The recording is 00:03:56 long with the interviewer’s voice breaking in at 00:00:03. Below are the extracts of what George Ferguson said during the interview. Please note this is not a complete transcript as the superfluous conversation in between questions has been removed:

[Interviewer] ‘So, just recording George Ferguson’.

[George Ferguson] ‘Well, I had polio in Gibraltar in 1949 before vaccine, and Gibraltar was a pretty filthy place, you know, and I suppose I picked it up somehow from the pavement or something. And my dad was in the military out there, and they were extremely worried. And I met people previously who thought I'd died, people who'd seen me there and assumed that I'd died. My parents were dead worried that I would. And anyway, I survived, didn't remember any of that'.
'But we came back and lived at Hatesbury when my dad was posted to Warminster. And my mum used to take me over to the baths for therapy, really, just to do anything to try and strengthen me, my leg, because I couldn't walk then and I had a calliper. And she used to stand, I remember, I think this must have been one of my first memories. I always pretended I remembered the apes on the rock, but I don't think I did. Well, I do remember this very clearly. And it was a lovely memory, really, because it was one of real freedom, of being able to kick my legs around and being held up by these nurses in the bath. And they were sweet, they were terribly kind. And my mum was watching on the edge. And I remember the tiles of the Beau Street, Bath. And I went back in there to see it after it was derelict, before this project happened, and it just, lots of memories came swimming back, even though it was completely empty of water. And I know that it sped my, the healing of my leg and helped hasten the day when I could get out of the calliper. Whether that was the content of the water or whether it was the exercise of being made to exercise my leg, or a combination of the two, I would never know. But it helped me learn to swim really'.

[Interviewer] ‘Okay, brilliant. Great. And then the Roman Rendezvous, just tell us, introduce saying it was the final one, and then just say a little bit about what they were like and what was going on'.

[George Ferguson] 'Yeah. Yeah, well I was lucky enough to be at the last of the Roman Rendezvous in the Great Bath and the King's Bath. And it was tremendous. Of course we didn't know it was the last one then, I don't think. But it was a real roman party and people got into the mood and it was a bit naughty and there were belly dancers and there was fire and there was... And you really felt as if you'd been transported back a couple of thousand years. It was tremendous fun. So I hope that happens again sometime'.
Existence and Location of Copies: Digitised MP3 versions are available on Preservica via internal access at Bath Record Office.