Save Grange Lido News
May 2019 – newsletter no.3
Can we start by saying a huge thank you if you came to our open day last month at the Victoria Hall in Grange. It was a chance to chat to people about our exciting plans and reminisce about those carefree summer days when our pool was the place to go. Amongst the memorabilia on display was a selection of trophies from all the competitions and swimming galas held at Grange Open Air Baths. The engraved list of winners dated all the back to the 1940s and continued right up to the 1990s when the pool closed. The air was filled with gasps of surprise as former winners were reunited with their awards after all these years.
The open day was a chance to share stories and happy memories from those halcyon days. We had several former lifeguards with many behind the scenes tales about life at the Lido. The staff parties after closing time sounded wild! We learned about the guy who used to come for his swim at the same time every day, no matter what the weather. And how the lifeguards used to fight over who got to sound the klaxon to warn people on the sands that the tide was coming in.
So, if you came along, thank you. We hope you enjoyed the free homemade fudge we prepared to tempt you to sign up to our newsletter. If you didn’t sign up at the event, you can do so here. And if you didn’t manage to get the fudge at the event, sorry – it’s because the Save Grange Lido team troughed most of it!
Grange Lido on TV
Did you see the Lido on tv? Didn’t it look fantastic? It featured in a major plotline in episode 3 of the ITV drama The Bay. It was unmistakably our Lido even though the characters referred to it as an abandoned holiday park in Silverdale! The national exposure sent our social media hits into orbit. We were nearly as popular on Twitter as Taylor Swift or videos of cats falling off the arm of the sofa. Lidos around the country are a popular destination for film and tv productions and when our pool is restored, combined with the stunning Morecambe Bay backdrop, I suspect Grange Lido will need its own agent!
See you at our Summer Events
Summer is almost upon us and whilst you won’t be able to have a swim in the Lido this summer, you will be able to catch the SGL crew at a whole host of events around the area. You’ll be able to ask the team for progress updates and shop till you drop from our ever-expanding merchandise range. Take your flexible friend with you as we have prints, posters, greetings cards, badges and all sorts. Treat yourself.
If you do fancy swimming in the open air check out our Facebook page and pop along to one of our outdoor swimming events. The team meet regularly at Fell Foot park and other places to take a dip. Also, several members of the team are competing in the Great North Swim in Windermere in June, we wish them the best of luck.
Latest News on the Lido
Now I’m sure what you really want to know is how are we getting on with getting that pool open again. Behind the scenes our busy beavers are working flat out. SGL are working very closely with South Lakeland District Council to ensure our plans align so that when the phase one ‘Light Touch renovation’ project is complete, we will be in a position to start phase two, the restoration of the pool. We have lots of work to do. We will soon be publishing our revised business plan to submit to SLDC for their approval, once it has been scrutinised by an independent expert. Then the big work starts, raising the money to rebuild the pool. We hope to have more news on this in our next update.
In the meantime, thank you for all your incredible support so far and keep checking our Facebook for all our latest news and for details of the events you will find us at this summer.
The Save Grange Lido team