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 Martyn Lewis who recalls learning to swim in the Cross Bath, Bath.

Reference Number: BC/13/12/1/1/9
Alternative Reference Number: 0779
Level of Description: Item
Title: Interview with Martyn Lewis who recalls learning to swim in the Cross Bath, Bath.
Date: c.2005
Extent: Extent: 1 minidisc
Description: An audio recording of an interview with Martyn Lewis who recalls learning to swim at the Cross Bath, Bath. 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.

Further details of the date and location of the recording have not been captured and it is not clear who is conducting the interview. The recording is 00:06:50 long with the interviewer’s voice breaking straight away.

Below are the extracts of what was said during the interview. Please note this is not a complete transcript as the superfluous conversation in between questions has been removed:

[Martyn Lewis] ‘Okay. Well, my experience of learning to swim in the Cross Bath was going back to 1967 or 68. And at the age, I was 21. But like many people around that age now, they never had the opportunity to learn to swim while at school. So the nearest swimming pool to myself was some 10 miles away, which was in Bath at that time. And I was living in Temple Cloud. A friend of mine, who was slightly younger, had a girlfriend in Bath at Combe Down. And they wanted to go on holiday together. So he suggested that it would be nice if he could swim. And would I like to join him in learning to swim? So I agreed. And arrangements were made with us to learn in the Cross Bath.
The teacher, the swimming teacher, I remember, was a retired schoolmistress, who I believe had lived or worked in a school in Combe Down. And probably was around 70 years of age at that time. Now I was 21 and my friend was about 18. We went into the Cross Bath and the dressing rooms were rather a shock because they were just open to the air with a slight cover over them, but with just a nylon curtain to separate the individual cubicles. Now learning to swim in the winter, it was quite rudimentary changing rooms. So you didn't hang around in the changing rooms. You either got straight into the water or when you got out, you got back into your clothes very quickly.
While we were swimming, or we were learning to swim, the teacher would sit on the edge of the Cross Bath on a stool and to support herself and avoid falling into the water, she sat with her legs spread. Now this may not seem funny to most people, but to ourselves at the age of 19 and 21, we found rather humorous. And more so was the fact that she had with her a rope with a lasso on the end of it, where if you were having difficulties in learning to swim, she would throw you this rope, this lasso, which she put over your shoulders and underneath your armpits. And she would then proceed to pull you across the water while you were learning to swim.
This was rather humorous because while she was sat on the edge of the pool with her legs spread, you could see right up to her knickers. And at the age while you were learning to swim, it's very hilarious. And in fact, it took us a long time to be able to get over the fact that she was just sat there with her legs spread wide open. I think after three weeks, she said to us, well, what are you laughing at? And at which stage we had to politely tell her that it was we could see her knickers and would she mind keeping her knees together.
The water, I remember, was very warm. And when you got over to the inlet valve, it was warmer. So being in there in the winter, the ideal place was to be close to the inlet valve. And we could see a lot of people looking through the window watching us, which can also be rather off-putting when you're trying to learn to swim. There were only just two of us there with the teacher, so it was only the three people in the Cross Bath at that time’.
Existence and Location of Copies: Digitised MP3 versions are available on Preservica via internal access at Bath Record Office.