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Swimming Lessons

Loved every Min; of my time at VICTORA Rd baths & my being coached by Mr millner of Upper Thomas Street School. Great days & I still love my swimming :0)
 
You are Lucky, only had one lesson also at Victoria Baths, I was at St Thomas Street then around 1967, I cannot remember the teacher but he took me into the deep end held me out and I sank like a stone
I was frightened to death, after that I used every excuse in the world to get out of lessons, playing the wag and even got the neighbours to write me excuse notes.
 
You are Lucky, only had one lesson also at Victoria Baths, I was at St Thomas Street then around 1967, I cannot remember the teacher but he took me into the deep end held me out and&nbsp;I sank like a stone<br>I was frightened to death, after that&nbsp;I used every excuse in the world to get out of lessons, playing the wag and even got the neighbours to write me excuse notes.
 
I disliked swimming lessons with the school and did not learn until I taught myself at Stechford Baths in the Lido when it was new. Even now on the rare occasion that I go swimming I rarely swim more than one arm's length from the hand rail. Cold water and being dive bombed by my boys did not add to the 'pleasure'.
 
I went to St James Junior School Shirley and Sharmans Cross senior school Solihull 1939 to 1944 and we did not have swimming lessons, may be because there was a war on (teachers in the forces) or perhaps it was not part of education then. I eventually learnt in the RAF in 1949. Eric
 
I loved my swimming lessons at Grove Lane Baths.
Mrs Jones the Swim (Handsworth Wood Girls School) - you paid attention with her. But she taught you well... Can't remember who taught us at junior school though.
 
SueB58 said:
I loved my swimming lessons at Grove Lane Baths.
Mrs Jones the Swim (Handsworth Wood Girls School) - you paid attention with her. But she taught you well... Can't remember who taught us at junior school though.
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Loved it .. Grove lane baths once a week used to walk through the gullies from Rookery Road school ... and come the holidays were there with my mates almost every day ... if my memory serves me correct it was 6d entrance fee (2 1/2p) and we stayed all day hot bovril in the cafe after,,, great times
Pastry
 
Swimming every Tuesday at Grove Lane Baths, and I went to Soho College. Can't remember who taught us. But remember we also went on a Sunday morning to meet the boys there - and my sister always had a Bovril in the cafe afterwards! I couldn't stand the stuff.
 
mrpastry said:
Loved it .. Grove lane baths once a week used to walk through the gullies from Rookery Road school ... and come the holidays were there with my mates almost every day ... if my memory serves me correct it was 6d entrance fee (2 1/2p) and we stayed all day hot bovril in the cafe after,,, great times
Pastry
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Me and my mate Beverley lived at the baths a lot. Loved going upstairs for eateries afterwards. They weren't crisps, but little bags of puffed potato - chip something. One for 'Products that have faded away' I think...
 
I was going to start a thread on THE CANE and corporal punishment. But have forgotten how to do it. Did anyone get the Cane???
 
I attend Upper Thomas Street senior boys from 1964 to 1968, and in those four years I went swimming once a week during school terms....and at the end I still couldn't swim, I could never get the hang of moving you head to one side to breathe, and Victoria Road baths were always freezing cold, the only plus side was if the lesson was the last one before dinner, some of us would hide behind the telephone boxes and sneak off home after the others were marched back to school .....
 
Oh Sue, I wondered if you were there at the same time as my sister, but I think she left in 68, so she is older than you. Never mind. She went to Woodville from 1960 until she was 11 (about a year I think), then Handsworth Wood Girls'.
 
Hi i lived a couple of doors from Victoria road baths in Aston when i was about 4 years old my uncle Bob who was a copper used to take me for lessons and i eventually learned to swim quite early,when i was in Upper Thomas school seniors i swam for the school, and i remember our team was picked to be in a tv show called" Seeing Sport with Billy Wright" the ex Wolves captain it was at Woodcock st baths, my 15 minutes of fame,our swimming teacher was Mr Milner,and it seemed that if you had an interest in sport at UTS you were encouraged which meant you had time off some lessons to train .......... happy days
 
For some reason my mother was determined to teach me to swim and used to take me to Sparkhill baths. I hated the place, the water was freezing and the edges of the pool were made of a material that resembled coke. If you slipped getting out you scratched yourself badly.
On starting at Wheelers Lane, swimming was part of the curriculum and we went to Kings Heath baths, they were great. There was a small pool at one end for non swimmers and splashing about in there I soon learned to "Dog Paddle". From that point I never looked back !
 
Hi Shortie
We all knew each other there. Blankson - Christina (the good one) and Susan (the naughty one)... ;-0)
 
I was taught to swim at Green lane baths Small Heath and loved every second of it.An old victorian place with tiles and wooden changing cubicles around the sides.I swam for the school and for the scouts learning to swim opened up so many other opportunities for me.Very happy memories.
 
The only thing that I did not like about the cubicles (apart from being very small) was that you could see under them...Old Victorian swimming Baths
 
Sue that is where I had my first swimming lesson and I too hated those cubicles. I too was [am] very small.
 
Do you remember how quickly we used to have to get dressed after our swimming lesson. The teachers would be saying 'come on, hurry up' and we would not be properly dry and have to get back into our clothes which were awkward to get on because we were still wet. We were also hungry from swimming, but could not get anything from the eaterie because we had to get in line and be marched back to school. We only had half an hour didn't we?
That's the bit I don't like about it. No time to have a laugh...
 
Oh we were luckier there,we passed Wimbushes bakery an the way back to school and we were allowed to nip in quickly to buy something to eat.
 
Our teachers were always in a hurry. Mind you there were quite a few of us in the swimming class. Must be hard to co-ordinate.
 
Never the cane Sue, but definitely the ruler across my fingers. Can't remember why though. A teacher at Camden St school once hit me across the face. I ran out of school and went to get my dad out of work, my face was stinging from the slap and the tears. My dad immediately clocked out of work and went to the school to reprimand the teacher. Now I do remember why I got hit that time. my pencil rolled off my desk and onto the floor, and that was all there was to it. Obviously though, something I have never forgotten.
 
maggs said:
Never the cane Sue, but definitely the ruler across my fingers. Can't remember why though. A teacher at Camden St school once hit me across the face. I ran out of school and went to get my dad out of work, my face was stinging from the slap and the tears. My dad immediately clocked out of work and went to the school to reprimand the teacher. Now I do remember why I got hit that time. my pencil rolled off my desk and onto the floor, and that was all there was to it. Obviously though, something I have never forgotten.
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That is terrible. That can give you arthtritus (spelling oops) in later life. My mom's knuckles were terrible for that - she got wacked during piano lessons. Good on your Dad, my mom came up to school once - it didn't happen again i'm telling you... oh - it annoys me.
 
It was terrible Sue, as I was only about 9 yrs old. Like you said, once your parents make stand it doesn't occur again. How sad about your poor mom's hands too. We are going off thread now naughty naughty.
 
maggs said:
It was terrible Sue, as I was only about 9 yrs old. Like you said, once your parents make stand it doesn't occur again. How sad about your poor mom's hands too. We are going off thread now naughty naughty.
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Yes, this should be in the Cane thread. Just realised.
 
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