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We have received the announcement below from the Superintendent of Hampstead Heath, Bob Warnock.  If you have any comments on the content or the utility of the booking arrangements (including the offline booking arrangements), please remember to send those comments directly to the City of London (copied to klpamailbox@gmail.com) using the following details:
Anne.Fairweather@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Bob.Warnock@cityoflondon.gov.uk
HH-Swimming@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Thank you for your feedback at the Swimming Forum meeting on Tuesday evening. Following a review after the meeting and taking account of the feedback we have received during the test events; we have put new online booking arrangements in place. We believe the new system is more user friendly, resilient and addresses the majority of the concerns raised by swimmers.

Therefore, I can confirm that from Saturday 18 July the Bathing Ponds and the Parliament Hill Fields Lido will reopen. Swimming session tickets will be available for purchase at 11am on Friday 17 July at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/hampsteadheathswimming 

• Swimmers will be able to book a Session seven days in advance 
• Tickets will go live at 11am on Friday 17 July and more tickets will be released at midday each day and will be available for purchase until 15 minutes before the session starts (pending availability) 
• Each individual swimmer will only be able to book a maximum of three swims in seven days and measures are in place to prevent abuse of the booking system. 
• Nobody under the age of 16 is permitted to swim in the Bathing Ponds at this time but there will be family sessions available at the Lido. 

There is a phone booking system available for those with additional access requirements or who cannot book online or via the smartphone app. If you know of anyone who requires this service, please ask them to speak to the lifeguards or to email  HH-swimming@cityoflondon.gov.uk and we will provide further information to assist them with making their bookings. 

Bob Warnock
Superintendent of Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood, Keats House and Queen’s Park

The Hampstead Heath Swimming Forum met virtually earlier this week.  The regular meeting, which involves Hampstead Heath management and elected representatives of the swimmers’ associations, would usually have a public gallery.  This facility was refused by the City of London for the online meeting and our request for the meeting to be recorded, so that members might view it later, was also refused.

The Chair of the Hampstead Heath Management Committee, Anne Fairweather, and the Heath Superintendent, Bob Warnock attempted to reassure members that improvements would be made to the online booking platform.  This had been suspended on 13 July 2020 following a chaotic weekend of website crashes. 

It is anticipated that the City of London’s booking platform will re-open on Friday 17 July 2020 at 11a.m. to book swimming slots at the Ladies’ Pond from 18 July 2020 onwards.  We were informed it will be possible to make up to three bookings per week for the dates released at that time, and there are expected to be seven swimming sessions per day.

When it re-opens, the booking platform can be accessed via the link on the City of London’s webpage here.  Please note that the KLPA does not manage the booking platform and has no special access to it.

At the Forum the following points were also raised:

• The promised Hardship Fund still does not exist.
• An Equalities Impact Assessment for the new procedures still has not been produced despite being a legal requirement.
• There is still no provision for off-line booking which excludes many long term swimmers from being able to book sessions.
• Season tickets will not be reactivated until at least September 2020.
• Hampstead Heath managers have been receiving a huge number of emails from dissatisfied (would-be) swimmers, with 1,300 arriving on 13 July 2020 alone.  The swimmers’ associations were asked to discourage their members from sending so many emails.  Clearly this is an individual decision for each member to make.

Should you still wish to send emails about your experiences the addresses required are:
Anne.Fairweather@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Bob.Warnock@cityoflondon.gov.uk
HH-Swimming@cityoflondon.gov.uk

The decision to enforce compulsory and increased charges at the ponds long term was taken on 11 March 2020 by a committee of 18 people sitting in the Guildhall many miles from Hampstead Heath.  Those Hampstead Heath Management Committee members comprise 12 people “elected” to the City of London Corporation and six co-optees.  This is democracy City of London style!

Thank you to all KLPA members for their patience in trying to book a swim at the Ladies’ Pond since the City of London’s new platform went live last Friday afternoon.  Thank you also to all those members who have emailed the City of London with accounts of the utterly shambolic state of that booking system.  We have seen copies of many of your emails and your feedback has been focused and pertinent.

This platform is the responsibility of the City of London and many of the potential. problems were highlighted in advance by the swimmers’ associations.  There has been at least four months to put such systems in place, much of which could still have been done via remote working, but this weekend we have seen the impact of a lack of adequate preparation.  Significant groups of swimmers remain excluded for financial and technological reasons.

The City of London is also not keeping the swimmers’ associations adequately informed, instead announcing changes on Twitter, which is discourteous given the efforts we have all put into trying to help get these systems right.  We first became aware via Twitter this afternoon that the booking platform is now suspended and unlikely to be available to book sessions before Saturday 18 July.

The continuing situation has been covered in the local press:

Ham & High 13 July 2020
Camden New Journal 11 July 2020

The swimmers’ associations are due to attend a regular meeting with Heath Management on-line on Tuesday 14 July, but no provision has been made for an on-line public gallery, which is also disappointing.  We will be raising all of the issues our members have been experiencing over the last few days as well as revisiting the iniquitous decision to enforce and increase compulsory charges.  The latter decision was justified last March with reference to season tickets, free swims for certain groups and a “Hardship Fund”, none of which is currently in place.

We have repeatedly asked the City of London to suspend its new charging regime during a continuing public health emergency, but these requests have been ignored.  Please add your voice to these requests and also continue to send your wider observations and objections to:

Anne.Fairweather@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Bob Warnock@cityoflondon.gov.uk
HH-Swimming@cityoflondon.gov.uk
events@activetrainingworld.co.uk

Please copy these messages to klpamailbox@gmail.com

Camden New Journal, 9 July 2020

Ham & High, 6 July 2020

Following yesterday’s government announcement that outdoor swimming “pools” can re-open with effect from 11 July 2020, the City of London plans to open the Ladies’ Pond tomorrow, Saturday 11 July 2020, for 2 separate one hour sessions, from 7-8 am and 8.30-9.30 am, with cleaning taking place between sessions.  We understand that the same pattern is likely to be followed on Sunday 12 July.

A maximum of 30 swimmers per session will be permitted and safe-distancing measures will be in place.

Tickets must be purchased on line from the Hampstead Heath website in order to swim, there will be no admission to anyone who has not booked a ticket.

Please note it is the City of London that is managing the booking process and platform NOT the KLPA.

We will forward links to the booking system for further dates to all members as soon as we receive them BUT tickets to the trial sessions sold out within minutes and we don’t know in advance when we will be notified.

For this reason we advise you to keep checking the City of London website for release of the booking system rather than waiting for our email.

Your comments to the City of London about these procedures can be sent to HH-Swimming@cityoflondon.gov.uk but please copy to klpamailbox@gmail.com. In particular please let the City know if you experience any difficulties due to problems booking on line or additional access needs.

We understand the need to put in place safe-distancing measures as the ponds re-open. However, we also appreciate that many swimmers who have waited patiently for the re-opening will be disappointed by the limited number of tickets available, the enforced payment mechanisms which have been introduced, and the timing of the release of booking information.

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Thank you to all KLPA members and swimmers from other ponds who turned out on Sunday afternoon for a safe-distanced protest at the Ladies’ Pond, and to everyone who helped with stewarding.  About 200 of us were able to form a protective ring around the boundaries of the Ladies’ Pond from gate to gate via the Stock Pond path.  We hope this has sent a clear message to the City of London about how much we care for our pond.

We would also like to say a heartfelt thank you to Nicky Mayhew who has just stood down as KLPA Chair, after making enormous efforts on behalf of KLPA members during a very challenging period at the Ladies’ Pond.  We aim to carry on the good work and live up to her standards.

There is now a new ‘Swim for Victory’ section on this website under ‘Campaigns’ and KLPA members are encouraged to keep campaigning against the new enforced charging regime at the Hampstead Heath bathing ponds.  We have produced some briefing notes to assist with further emailing which can be seen here.  Please make use of these to assist in correspondence with your elected representatives and letters to the press, as well as continuing to write to the decision-makers at the City of London.

The KLPA believes firmly that:

• The swimming ponds are world-famous as an integral and historic part of Hampstead Heath. The methods required to ‘enforce’ payment will destroy their unique atmosphere.
• Swimming provides a community lifeline and is vital to the physical and mental health of many local people.
• The culture of the ponds is one where everyone is equal. There are many swimmers for whom £4.00 and £2.40 will be unaffordable, but there are others who would be willing to donate more IF they could be confident the money would be spent wisely.
• During the consultation the City ‘benchmarked’ charges for the ponds against swimming ‘facilities’ such as the Royal Docks, West Reservoir and the Serpentine which cater for swimmers engaged in athletic training. This is not the way in which most people swim in the ponds. Many of the women who visit the Ladies’ Pond do not necessarily swim but come to seek solace and inspiration in a safe, accessible place.

Thank you again for all your support and efforts – together we are strong.

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Photographer and KLPA archivist Sarah Saunders has also published a gallery of more photographs from the protest here.

Recent months have been tough for most of us. In addition to the threat of Covid-19 and the pressures of lockdown, we have had to contend with closure of all the ponds during the pandemic and the unwelcome prospect of the City changing the atmosphere of the Ladies’ Pond for ever.

We can’t wave a magic wand and make it all go away, but some of our creative fellow swimmers have been focusing on the positives of pond life to celebrate our extraordinary community. Take a look at the latest additions to the Lockdown Gallery for photographs, films and a new book in aid of charity by Ruth Corney featuring twenty years of photographs of Ladies’ Pond swimmers, together with ‘Pond Postcards’ curated by Highgate Festival Director Alicia Pivaro, and two galleries of her own photographs from KLPA archivist Sarah Saunders.

While you’re there, scroll up for more recent films, images and words from pond swimmers, and a tribute to a much loved and now sadly lost canine visitor.

Many of you will have seen the Highgate Festival’s pink plaques celebrating the achievements of women and ‘reclaiming pink and the past’. We are delighted and honoured to find that this year’s Festival has awarded a pink plaque to celebrate us, the swimmers and lifeguards of the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond. The plaque will be erected in September (Covid-19 restrictions permitting), proving again that we are not just another ‘swimming facility’.

Although lockdown is easing and the bathing ponds have been prepared and tested for safe re-opening, government guidelines still ban their opening, even though other open water swimming venues such as the West Reservoir in Stoke Newington are already operating.

Despite this, together with other swimmers’ associations and groups, we have resumed our campaign against the City of London’s decision to enforce the increased charges for swimming decided before lockdown (from £2 to £4 for an adult ticket and from £1 to £2.40 for concessions).

We have asked them to reconsider their new charging regime in recognition of the financial, physical and mental stress caused to the community by the impact of Covid-19 but so far they have not been willing to do so.

On Sunday 5 July at 3pm, KLPA members, together with fellow swimmers from the Highgate Men’s Pond and the Mixed Pond Associations, will gather at the front gate of the Ladies’ Pond in Millfield Lane to demonstrate their shared connection to and respect for the Hampstead ponds and other swimmers. Expect colourful masks, and two metre socially distanced physical connection as pond swimmers embrace the ponds as closely as current circumstances allow.

Please come and support us!

Below is a summary of the key points relevant to pond swimmers discussed at the virtual meeting of the City of London’s Hampstead Heath Management Committee on 3 June. An updated City proposal, circulated at the start of the meeting (with no opportunity to review it in advance) can be downloaded here. Please note that this plan is the City’s NOT ours. They invited comments on the original version and – following a narrow majority of KLPA members voting in favour of co-operation – KLPA representatives met with CoL on 2 June, the eve of the Management Committee meeting. Our feedback is not reflected in their document.

In short there has been no real movement in the City’s plans beyond responding to COVID-19 by controlling access to swimming in the ponds once it is deemed safe to return. Ahead of the Management Committee meeting we suggested (as we also did before lockdown) that they might suspend the increase in charges – or even offer the limited number of swims available free of charge – during the “recovery” period (see email here). As yet we have received no response and as far as we know our email was not forwarded to the committee. The City intends to go forward with enforcement of the increased charges, alongside its proposed measures to re-open the ponds and lido to very limited numbers of swimmers. The earliest possible date for opening is 4 July 2020, and the actual date will depend on national progress with controlling the spread of COVID-19 and preparedness of staff and premises. The technology needed to implement the limited re-opening, not to mention that required for the longer-term implementation of the compulsory charges, is yet to be finalised.

At our on-line meeting with the Heath management and Anne Fairweather, incoming Chair of the Management Committee, KLPA representatives outlined many practical concerns about the City’s plans, including: season ticket chaos, digital exclusion, crowds of people who haven’t booked attempting to enter the ponds on warm days, and unclear rescue protocols. So far there does not appear to have been much attempt to address these in detail, and we remain concerned that the City’s plans to re-open the ponds and lido will be riven with difficulties, even before we consider the impact of inflated compulsory charges on our pond community.

It is suggested that members with questions about the proposed re-opening should address them directly to Heath Management hampstead.heath@cityoflondon.gov.uk and/or the Chair of the Hampstead Heath Management Committee anne.fairweather@cityoflondon.gov.uk. If you do write, please also send a copy to us at klpamailbox@gmail.com so that we also understand your concerns.

Everyone will have their own questions, but points that seem particularly important include:

• How will fair rationing of available swimming time be achieved?
• How will abuse of the on-line system (e.g. multiple bookings) be prevented?
• How will those who can’t use digital services or contactless payment be supported?
• Will swimmers with disabilities be supported?
• When and how will season ticket sales resume?
• How long will these “short term” measures be in place?

Our recent survey confirmed that the majority of KLPA members continue to oppose the City’s new charging regime (enforced payment of charges increased by 100% for adults from £2.00 to £4.00, and by 140% for concessions from £1.00 to £2.40). Co-operation with limited re-opening of the pond does not imply our agreement with or approval of the City’s decision.

Now that lockdown is easing and many people are less preoccupied with the immediate impact of the health emergency, it seems possible to resume campaigning without being insensitive to those in the wider community who have suffered as a result of the virus. If you wish to be involved please email  klpamailbox@gmail.com to let us know.