A pool built for the workers at the Cadbury factory as part of the Bourneville model village. The large pool with rounded corners was fed by a natural spring. The pool was closed in 1970 due to complaints regarding noise from a new adjacent housing estate and also because of new health and safety rules applying to outdoor pools.
The pool had a second life when a team of volunteers who built a much smaller pool and this lasted until the late 1980’s.
| Name | Bourneville Lido Oak Farm Road, Bourneville, West Midlands, B30 1ET |
| Built / opened | Original pool 2nd July 1937 Community pool 1977 |
| Cost | 1997 pool £60,000 |
| Dimensions | 1937 pool 100′ x 50′ 1997 pool 60′ x 40′ |
| Water volume | 1937 pool 240,000 gallons |
| Water type | Spring water |
| Depth(s) | 3′ 3” to 11′ 6″ |
| Diving boards | 3m and 5m platforms, 3m springboard |
| Changing facilities | 19 cubicles, a large dressing room, and seven shower baths and seven footbaths for each sex. |
| Second pool | Children ‘s pool 50′ x 117’ 6″, depth 12″ |
| Spectator seating | |
| Designer | Edwin Stanley Hall (architect) Thomas Lowe and Sons (builders) |
| Date closed | Original pool 1972 Community pool 1987 |
| Status | Original pool demolished 1976 Community pool demolished 1997 |
| On site now | Housing |
| Notes | |
| Links | https://bournvilletenants.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-bournville-lido-at-rowheath.html https://rowheathpavilion.co.uk/history/ |
The Bournville Lido
For the use of their employees and for the general public at specified times and days, Messrs. Cadbury Brothers, Ltd., of Bournville, have provided in Rowheath Recreation Grounds a fine lido. It was opened by Mr. Edward Cadbury, chairman of the company, last month.
Built to the designs prepared by Messrs. E. Stanley Hall and Easton and Robertson, architects, the swimming pool, and the buildings are constructed of concrete and brickwork, respectively.
The Swimming Pool
Having a paved surround the swimming pool is 100 ft. long by 50 ft. wide with a minimum depth of 3 1t. 3 in. and a maximum of 11 ft. 6 in.; there are eight sets of steps leading into the water. At the south end there is a reinforced concrete diving stage having a 3m springboard and 3m and 5m diving platforms. A 1m springboard is also provided and a large water chute. At the shallow end there is a small water chute
The walls and bottom slab of the pool except the deep end, are 5 in. thick, the maximum thickness at the deep end being increased to 7 and a half in. The walls were sloped at a water depth of 6ft. 6in. to prevent excessive thickness at the bottom.
As the pool is built in clay, allowance had to be made for water pressure when empty. When emptying the pool, outside pressure on the side walls is relieved by a pump acting in connection with land tiles and hardcore filling to the sides. Provision is made for flooding the pool immediately. if the pumps should fail
Filtration Plant
The capacity of the pool is 240,000 gal. of water and the purification system is capable of dealing with this capacity once every eight hours at the rate of 30,000 gal. per hour.
The water is drawn from the bottom at the deep end also from specially designed scum channels, as described and illustrated in Baths and Bath Engineering, July 1936. The proportions of water drawn from the pool can be varied at will and it has been found that 60 per cent. from the bottom and 40 per cent. from the surface water give very efficient results. These two flows join into a main suction before entering the strainer.
The chemicals are injected by the shunt feed system, the same Venturi operating a mercurial rate of flow gauge. The filters embody a combined air and water cleansing.
A coke fired boiler with thermostatic control and fitted with mechanical stoker, is installed for ensuring a constant temperature of the water at all times.
Sterilisation is by means of gaseous chlorine. Aeration is obtained by means of an automatic enclosed aerator.
The water purification plant was erected by Messrs. United Filters and Engineering, Ltd., of London.
Heating Plant
The low pressure accelerated hot water heating system in the cafe, changing rooms and offices, also an indirect hot water supply to the showers, footbaths and basins were carried out by Messrs. Ashwell and Nesbit Ltd. of Birmingham.
The boiler is a cast iron sectional Robin Hood fired by an Iron Fireman automatic coal stoker, of which they are the manufacturers. The stoker is thermostatically controlled.
There are four 250 gal. hot water service cylinders, two in the ladies’ and two in the men’s shower rooms, each containing a coil through which the primary water is circulated from the boiler. This in turn, heats the water for the showers, etc., the temperature of which is controlled through thermostatically controlled blenders, it being impossible, it is claimed, for the water to be drawn from the showers or other fittings in excess of the temperature for which the blenders are set.
Dressing Accommodation
The dressing accommodation consists of 19 cubicles, a large dressing room, and seven shower baths and seven footbaths for each sex. Bathers hang their clothes on pegs provided in the dressing rooms, but if, however, they desire their clothes to be handed to the attendant for custody, the standard bag is furnished at a very small charge. The bag, of course, becomes the property of the purchaser. A receptacle for disused bags is provided.
General
Other amenities of the lido include a children ‘s pool 50 ft. long by 17 ft. 6 in. wide with a maximum depth of 12 in. at the deep end, sea shingle sunbathing beaches on either side of the pools and a cafe having French windows opening on to the terrace adjoining the children’s pool. This pool, constructed of a concrete slab 5 in. thick laid on solid, is separated from the shallow end of the main pool by a concrete flat 6 ft. wide.
The Ruberoid built-up roof surfaced with green slate roofing has been employed on the buildings. This specification consists of a laminated roof covering of two layers bedded together in a compound applied hot.
Messrs. Thomas Lowe and Sons, Ltd., were the contractors for the scheme and the Trussed Concrete Steel Co., Ltd., London, were the reinforced concrete engineers for the swimming pool, the following being among the sub-contractors: Plumbing—Wm. Freer, Ltd., Leicester; roofing – The Ruberoid Co., Ltd., London ; reconstructed stone work – Tarmac Ltd., Wolverhampton; springboards and water chutes – Haywards, Ltd., London.
