Our Swimming Pool - A poem by Joan Rimmer

We didn't need a swimming pool Because we had the sea, And we didn't need corners We had fields galore, you see.

We didn't have a T.V. screen To stare at day and night, And the Queens and Embo once a week Were there for our delight.

And everything was rationed then When we were all at school, So we climbed the trees and picked the fruit And didn't miss a pool.

And when we went to Southport Or into Liverpool We didn't care when we came home That we didn't have a pool Because we had the space to breathe And the freedom to explore The countryside and shoreline Which were ours for evermore.

But we were wrong and progress came And now the kids at school Have got no fields to play in And badly need a pool.

The sea we once could swim in Is polluted and unclean, And the fields and trees we played in Are no longer in the scene.

And even all the old folks And those who've long left school Find little in amenities And wish we had a pool.

So let us stop and muse a while And imagine foolishly If just one superstore went bust And what we all might see, Inside that mighty labyrinth, As spacious as a school - A bowling alley, lecture hall, And a great big swimming pool.

Poem by Joan Rimmer

Top Photo:

This photo was taken on the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1977 as the floats and parade went through Formby. The Mini has a placard on it's roof which says: "Formby Swimming Pool Appeal Association - We need your waste aluminium". Photo thanks to Joan Rimmer