To make this blog random, I decided that today I would check to see what picture was the first to be posted on the Memories of Crawley facebook page.
I was already an adult when it opened; my childhood swimming pools at had been the outside one at Horsham and the indoor pool at Redhill.
But I have swum there with my own children.
The first plans for a sports complex were drawn up in 1968.
Here is an early aerial shot showing the site before buildings were started.
You can clearly see the outline of the future athletics track on the left. The swimming pool was over to the right.
The main building was a centre for all manner of indoor sports. Over towards the railway would be a rectangular all weather pitch suitable for football and hockey.
Sadly I have found no pictures on the internet of any of the main building, It was officially opened by Harold Wilson in 1974.
I have the official programme and ticket for this ceremony......though I didn't attend.
Below is a picture of the sport's centre, taken from the programme.
Now back to the swimming pool.
This looks like it might have been taken before the main building was built.
There have been lovely memories on the facebook site about the coloured armbands - only one colour could be in the pool at any time. And people looked back to the snacks that they enjoyed getting from the machines after their swim.
The leisure/sports centre was used for many things.
Many of the top pop stars of the day performed there.Those ticket prices are a thing of the past.
The main athletics arena was the venue for a round of TV's Its a Knockout. Biggest crowd I have ever seen at the Crawley track.
And the track is where my heart lies.
I shall feature it on this blog one day soon.
Here is a picture taken at the last meeting held at the track......there will be more!
Just 30 years later it was decided there should be a new sport and leisure centre.
Some things have improved and other things have not.
The cynic in me feels that some people's bank balances must have improved from the deals that were made.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn memory of Grandma P,
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to read that you have posted your final article; us senior citizens are heard too infrequently.
Some great photos here. They really show the place as I remember it.
The aerial shot, however, is unlikely to show the site in 1964 as the pool was being built. The running track came three years after the pool. Inside the track, you could have seen outlines of foundations that follow the layout of the eastern end of today's Pembroke Park. There won't have been any structure inside the track until about 2006, after the old buildings had been levelled.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Respectfully yours
Richard C.