A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

[down south]

So the already-popular Saltcoats tidal bathing pool, which as proudly proclaimed was the largest in Scotland, was now better than ever and open for business. This picture shows the new Bathing Station covered in flags and bunting for the Grand Opening in 1933,:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterdays/4457202192/

And clustering round it as well were several other ponds, and a whole collection of other amusements, to create a complete entertainment complex. Which in a decidedly more limited way, that spot still passes for in the present day....

And though the pools are no longer in use, most of them are still there to be seen. But I'm not quite clear on what they all were. I have to confess , rather shamefacedly for a true Saltcottar , to not really being familiar with the Bathing Pond complex at all, ; we never got swimming lessons at the Academy , and there seemed little other reason to go there with the beach so close at hand

So I'd welcome a little guidance, now and later. There's a biggish pond I know, still stretching along Winton Circus; and that looks like it would be this one, where model yachts used to sail :

http://www.threetowners.net/forum/viewt ... 102#p97102

I thought that was also perhaps used for paddling small boats. But I don't think that's actually the pool we're seeing in this picture ?

There are the concrete steps down to the water, and and the people on what looks like the balcony of the bathing station. So it seems to me as though it might be the shallower shore end of the main pool; the part you can see closest to us in the first picture; with a little fence in the water marking it off from the rest .

So is that right, and what were the actual uses of these two pools ?

Susan

[Penny Tray]

Susan,

I and many others will, I'm sure, have recollections of the Bathing Pool but before then we could maybe deal with the various ponds you mention.

The small one in your final picture had never, in my time, anything to do with the Bathing Pool and in actual fact was situated outside its perimeter. Access was 'free' and 'unrestricted'. I don't recall the paddle boats in your picture and can only visualise it as a location where children paddled; sailed wee boats; and messed about with nets on the end of canes, trying to catch tiddlers. Their parents, usually mothers, sat on the steps on the right and kept a watchful eye on the weans.

Just beyond that location, towards Ardrossan, was the substantial Yachting Pond, an area where adults or very privileged children either sailed for fun or competitively raced the most superb model yachts. This was a location for serious sailing, not your wee, toy, red yachts from Woolworths, which, if you put them in you might have had to wait 2 or 3 hours for them to bob about before reaching the other end. The others had sails set and rudders fixed to ensure a precise and speedy course to a predetermined location to which we used to run to await their arrival.

There is an excellent photo of the yachting activity on FLICKR - just search SALTCOATS YACHTING POND.

My memory is fading a wee bit but I think I'm correct too when I say there was another pond between the Bathing Pool and the Pavilion. I can 'imagine' small motor boats for hire here. They must have been beyond my purse because I was certainly never in one.

Is my recollection correct with this one?

[westendcafe]

Yes there was a circular pond with beautiful timber built motor boats in the area you mention. I think it may have been referred to as Bond's pond but I might be wrong about that.

John,

[wellparkno9]

PT, you are right,the pond you mention between the pool and the Pavilion was run by Willie Bond.Willie had wee motor boats for hire.He also sold fire lighters ,bleach,bought in rags and woolens,was a scrap merchant too,He had a yard in Gleabe St in Saltcoats.He was a remarkable man ,considering he only had one leg .You may be came across his son who was in the polis too,his first name escapes me just now.

[maggie T]

Just Beat me to it Wellpark.

[Penny Tray]

I remember Mr. Bond (I think he lived in Links Road, Saltcoats?) but I never associated him with this pond and the motor boats.

[down south]

Thanks, PT, for all your helpful explanations; and the rest of you too. This will be the other boating pond you're talking about: I've long had my eye on this rather good view showing it with the Pavilion in the background:

Not sure what date that one will be, but this postcard , like the one of the other pond in my earlier post , comes from the 1960s, and I think must show it from the other direction, looking towards the back of the Bathing Station:

From what I can see on the satellite view, that pool has been filled in, and at that point seems to have been the site of a car-park...but that may well have changed since then, because those images date from when the Pavilion was still standing.

Meanwhile in the foreground of that last one, some youngsters are enjoying a train ride ( what did I miss ! ), and I guess there may well have been some other childrens' amusements as well round there.; there was certainly also this swingpark along the Winton Circus frontage, which I see is still there.

Susan

[Penny Tray]

Susan,

Saltcoats Bathing Pool or Saltpans Bathing Place, to give it its proper name as listed on 1964, 1965 and 1966 Season Tickets still in my possession, opened to the public between the 3rd Saturday in May and the 3rd Wednesday in September. The temperature of the water on both these dates, and more often than not in between, was to the best of my recollection FREEZING. For reasons that someone else can explain, the water only ever felt warm on the rare occasions that the venue was opened for floodlit bathing, often referred to as 'midnight bathing'. Fading memory is a terrible thing but I think it finished at midnight as opposed to starting then.

Many Threetowners will fondly remember either walking down the cul-de-sac where the entrance was situated or placing their bicycles against the outside wall; approaching the ticket office attendant and presenting the appropriate admittance fee or season ticket; clanking through the turnstiles; and certainly for the 'boys' making their way through a channel of individual cubicles comprising a cold stone floor/wooden spar seat and modesty curtain en route to the far end where a second attendant would issue them with a numbered wire clothing receptacle and a coloured corresponding numbered wrist band. You would then change, hand your clothing receptacle back to the second attendant and brace yourself for passing out into the open air. Clothing was retrieved by presenting the previously mentioned wrist band.

The bathing hours were -

Week Days - 10.00 to 12.30 p.m. and 1.30 to 5 p.m. and 5.30 to 8.00 p.m;
Sundays - 10.00 to 12.30 p.m. and 1.30 to 6.00 p.m.

Between the 1st of July and the 31st of August this was modified to
Week-days - 10.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. and
Sundays - 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.

Season tickets at the time were priced at 10/6d.

[down south]

Great details, PT. There's a good picture here of the bathing station all lit up for floodlit bathing; though there doesn't seem to be anyone about...

http://www.s1saltcoats.com/files/photo/max-345608.jpg

And it's not all that crowded here either in this 1960s daytime picture of the main pool; but how blue and inviting the water looks....

Susan

[klette0147]

I worked in Cavani's West End Cafe weekends and school holidays from the ages of 13 and 16 (1969 to 1972) and was paid 15p per hour! My bosses were Mary, Joe and Carlos (who only worked in the front shop). Joe made the ice cream out back and Mary ran the Cafe with an iron rod! It was a fantastic experience in Customer Services and the cafe had a brilliant jukebox. I loved the Melbourne too as it was more edgy!! But I have really fond memories of my time at the West End...

[westendcafe]

I worked in Cavani's West End Cafe weekends and school holidays from the ages of 13 and 16 (1969 to 1972) and was paid 15p per hour! My bosses were Mary, Joe and Carlos (who only worked in the front shop). Joe made the ice cream out back and Mary ran the Cafe with an iron rod! It was a fantastic experience in Customer Services and the cafe had a brilliant jukebox. I loved the Melbourne too as it was more edgy!! But I have really fond memories of my time at the West End...

You have hit the nail on the head with this post. I too worked in the WE at this time, think you were paid more than me! Even today we still quote some of Aunt Mary's sayings. Her iron rod extended beyond the shop too. We would be sent to Mr Howie for butcher meat. He would put his hands on the counter, look over his glasses and ask, "Is it for your Aunt Mary?" He knew that if it wasn't exactly to her liking it would be coming back. My Mother when she sent us for meat would say, "Tell Mr Howie it is for Aunt Mary."

"Use your hands and save your feet." That would be ringing in your ears if you took something through to the ice cream factory and returned empty handed. I used to catch myself saying that to my children.

John

[down south]

Welcome to Threetowners, Colette. I'm sure you and John will have sold me an ice-cream cone many a time.

While we're talking about cafes, I've heard there used to be one at the Bathing Pool . Would that have been housed in the Bathing Station itself, or was it somewhere separate ?

In a 1949 Herald Files I have,it was the Cosy Tea Room , as they call it there, in Hamilton Street that was describe as running it ...in fact they had even closed down their main cafe for the summer in favour of taking it over, so it must have been a good money-spinner back then. But I think I've seen mention elsewhere on 3T ( though I can't find the reference ) that someone else had the concession later on , one of the Hamilton Street bakers I think. Was it still going in the sixties ?

Susan