THE KENWOOD LADIES' POND ASSOCIATION
Join us this Sunday, 28 April between 9.00am and 11.00am, to buy KLPA merchandise: porcelain mugs, silicone swimming caps, warm hats to take away pre and post-swim chills, and our wonderful Wild Swimming Walks book.
See all future sale dates for 2024 on the poster below.
Margaret Dickinson and Beth Feresten invite you to join them for a walk and a swim, while they work on a revised version of the very popular Wild Swimming Walks book.
They are looking for people who might be interested in helping to complete a walk and update directions, transport and any other details that may need to be revised.
If you’ve been wanting to do a walk but haven’t had the chance or if you want to do a walk again, this would be a great opportunity!If you are interested in joining or leading a walk, please email Margaret and Beth at klpawalks@gmail.com. They will get back to you with more details of what this will involve.
Many KLPA members have previously supported the five-year campaign to turn a former waterworks near Lea Bridge Road into a community owned park, including two free-to-access bathing ponds. This support has included donations to a crowdfunder which raised over £0.5m towards the purchase of the land, to create the East London Waterworks Park (ELWP).
At the end of January ELWP volunteers received the shocking news that the government (which currently owns the site) is making a last-ditch attempt to use if for a different purpose, this time for a secure children’s home. This is despite the site being designated as Metropolitan Open Land, where new building can only happen in exceptional circumstances, and being situated on a level 3 flood plain. The proposal has not yet turned into a planning application, but this is expected to happen any day soon. When this happens ELWP will mobilise its supporters to submit planning objections, but there are actions which you can still take in the meantime.
Waltham Forest, which is one of the councils supporting the proposal for a secure children’s home, is also the planning authority which will decide upon the eventual planning application. Every London borough appears to be behind this project as part of a consortium led by Barnet Council, but information is not being made public about which other sites were considered. This is the only site where the East London Waterworks Park can happen, but is surely not the only site where a secure children’s home could be built in London. Once this site is built upon, it will be lost forever for the local community. Supporters of the ELWP project still have time to stop this happening.
If you have previously donated to the campaign, if you have been receiving regular updates because you signed up as a supporter, or if you have only just heard of the project and wish to support it, there are actions which you can take to help keep this dream alive:
More information about the East London Waterworks Park campaign can be seen here.
Spring opening hours
From Sunday 14 April the Ladies’ Pond will open as normal at 07.00, but closing time moves to 18.45:
Last entry 18.15
Vacate water at 18.30
Gates Locked 18.45
Breakfast at the Men’s Pond, Saturday 20 April 2024
Highgate Men’s Pond Association (HMPA) have invited us to join them for a swim and shared breakfast at the Highgate Men’s Pond, 08.00-11.00 (normal City of London admission prices but no charge for breakfast).
Thanks to the HMPA and please feel free to bring breakfast treats to share.
The Ladies’ Pond will be closed from 18-22 March for essential repairs and maintenance in the changing areas.
During this time, the Mixed Pond will be lifeguarded and available for women-only swimming during normal current opening hours:
Mixed Pond – women-only from 7.00 am to 2.00 pm daily
If you hold a season ticket wristband for the ponds and normally swim at the Ladies’ Pond you can also swim at the Lido while the Ladies’ Pond is closed.
The Ladies’ Pond will re-open at 7.00 am on Saturday 23 March, in time for our scheduled merchandise sale and Spring Equinox Breakfast on Sunday 24 March at 9.00 am.
Many thanks to Paul Jeal for negotiating and arranging this with the support of the Mixed Pond Winter Swimming Club. We are grateful for their flexibility and generosity in offering up their space.
Happy Swimming everyone.
Thank you to all the committee members who were able to take time out from their work and caring commitments this morning to offer tea, coffee, fruit and cake to morning swimmers. Special thanks to the creativitiy of lifeguard Jane Smith for her wonderful willow and wildflower decorations, to co-chair Pauline Latchem for incredibly delicious gingerbread lady swimmers, to committee member Sybil Bell for heart-shaped brownies, to Adele for the edible swimming cap and to all the other supportive swimmers who contributed delicious baked goods.
This was a chance to celebrate the Ladies’ Pond as a safe, welcoming and inclusive space for all women and girls, and we look forward to seeing more swimmers joining us as the weather and water warm over the coming weeks.
Our Annual General Meeting took place on Sunday 3 March 2024. Thank you to all members who took the time and trouble to attend.
Over 200 KLPA members were present for what promised to be a lively meeting. We realise that members would have become aware of press interest and controversy before the meeting and may also have seen some misleading press or social media coverage following the event.
The important news to let you all know is that we managed to complete all of the essential business of the AGM successfully, including Committee elections, although disruptive behaviour by a small group of attendees caused the meeting to be ended before we had completed the full agenda. A summary of the key results can be downloaded here.
Members present voted overwhelmingly to elect a committee made up of committed KLPA members and pond swimmers. A resolution to change the definition of “woman” in our constitution, in a way which would have excluded transgender women, was resoundingly defeated. We realise this is a subject on which not all will agree, but we urge all members to conduct this debate with civility and respect. Most women in the meeting did so and were a credit to the KLPA. Thank you again to everyone who attended and participated constructively.
The new KLPA Committee looks forward to working on behalf of all members this year, both by lobbying the City of London on greater inclusion at the bathing ponds, and also in holding enjoyable events for members. We also look forward to your involvement in our social events and in planning for the Ladies’ Pond Centenary in 2026.
As members will know, the AGM and elections for the 2024-25 committee will take place on 3 March 2024 and meeting papers have been distributed to all current members of the KLPA.
A report of the meeting and the newly elected committee will be published here following the meeting.
We apologise for the recent silence on this page resulting from illness.
Temporary brief closure of Ladies’ Pond
Please note that the Ladies’ Pond will be closed for the Duathlon on Sunday 3rd September.
Free-flow swimming will be open between 7am and 8.45 am.
The pond will be cleared of swimmers at 9.15am in order to prepare for the race which starts at 9.30am.
CoL aims to re-open the pond for 12 noon pre-booked swimmers, and freeflow will again be available from 5.00pm.
Stewards are likely needed between 9am – 11am within the Ladies’ Pond area. If you are interested to volunteer as a steward for this event, please speak to Nicola Hurley in the Lifeguards’ office.
Please direct any other queries about tis event to HH_swimming@cityoflondon.gov.uk
CoL and the Pond Lifeguards apologise for any inconvienience during this time.