Comments for West Kirby

Comment on Friday Photo: The Dee Hotel by Jack

Jack — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:09:29 +0000

I’m trawling back thru’ older threads and noticed this one, about The Dee – it’s ‘always’ had a bus stop right outside, where I used indeed to disembark after the trip down from Calday Grange Grammar School.
I remember the stop fro way before then too and recall the lovely smell of old & new beer that emanated from the pub!
I never ventured in, back in the day, as it had a bad reputation and no attraction – recent visits to its Wetherspoon incarnation are interesting and it’s really not bad! Wonder if they will ever offer accomodation (som ‘spoons do)? That would be auseful thing, as WK lacks this.

Comment on Friday Photo: Sailing School by John

John — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:59:55 +0000

I well recollect the ‘old’ set of buildings that pre-dated the current (rather bland) building – they were damaged by fire in the 1970′s I think, then demolished to make way for what we now have.

I used to work down at ‘the motor boats’, for Reliance and their man in charge, Gif (Gifford) Turner – does that company still have any link to the building? Is Gif still in the land of the living, I wonder?

Comment on Friday Photo: Bathing in Marine Lake by Samantha

Samantha — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:04:08 +0000

My mum learned to swim in the public baths in the fifties. The houses behind the baths shown in the picture are still there on Banks Road – the Hydro was further along. Its just that the Hilbre Court Flats were not built when the picture was taken. The foundation of the public baths can still be seen on the prom.

Even when I was a youngster in the late seventies/eighties I spent many a happy summer down at the “old baths” with my friend Cath. The changing rooms were gone by then but you could still swim out to the blocks where the diving boards once were.

Happy days x

Comment on Friday Photo: Bathing in Marine Lake by Pam Bodell

Pam Bodell — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:29:53 +0000

My sister Les used to go swimming there in her lunch break in the 60′s. She said it was freezing.

Comment on Friday Photo: Bathing in Marine Lake by John

John — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:45:46 +0000

Mick Gutierrez comments:

Yes the pool was open to the public and chargeable at a turnstile. I remember trying to get in for free, as young boys did, down the slipway and then onto the wall which was railed, but still did not stop us. I lived in West Kirby in the 1960′s and went swimming there on many occasion
As you look at the photo, to the far right was the male entry and on the far left was for ladies. Happy happy memories.

Comment on Friday Photo: Bathing in Marine Lake by John

John — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:44:59 +0000

Dave Smith comments:

The Marine lake bathing pool was open to the public, and was very popular when I was a child in West Kirby in the late forties.
I was a pupil at St Bridgets, which at that time was a Secondary Modern School, and once a week during the Summer months, the class would be walked down to the pool, and taught how to swim. I still have my certificates, twentyfive yards breaststroke and basic life saving.

Comment on Friday Photo: Bathing in Marine Lake by John

John — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:44:16 +0000

Peter Absalom comments:

Thanks for this photo! Of course the baths were open to the public – certainly not just for Hydro Hotel patrons, who probably been too ‘refined’ to patronise them anyway.. Whatever the murkiness of the water may have been (and it was pretty unhygienic), the baths were a regular meeting place for West Kirby residents and visitors on summer days. My family used to swim there regularly before the War (when this photo appears to have been taken) and, when the baths reopened after the War, I used to cycle along the prom almost every day to have what (according to the tickets) was a “plunge” in the baths. The swimming area was separated from the rest of the lake merely by a rope and there was a three-stage diving platform and somewhat splinter-prone wooden water chute…..

Comment on Friday Photo: Bathing in Marine Lake by Keith Hatton

Keith Hatton — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:46:24 +0000

It was a public swimming baths open to all – and freezing cold as well! I think I have some old postcards of the site – I’ll look them out

Comment on Friday Photo: Bathing in Marine Lake by Graham Thwaite

Graham Thwaite — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 09:49:30 +0000

The pool was awful, full of mud, seaweed and barnacles. However, the changing rooms were much better than those at the Hoylake pool as they had a glass roof which let the sun & light in.
It was for public bathing.

Comment on Friday Photo: Bathing in Marine Lake by Friday Photo: Villager golfers | HoylakeJunction.com

Friday Photo: Villager golfers | HoylakeJunction.com — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:52:10 +0000

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