Camden New Journal - Letters: Closing Kentish Town Baths

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Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 17 May 2007

Closing Kentish Town Baths a necessity, not just an excuse

• WITH reference to last week’s letter (Pool closure excuse, May 10) there is nobody more passionate in London about the dire situation of swimming in our schools today than myself.
If I could wave a magic wand I would have swimming lessons available for every child in London, starting in the Nursery and continuing until the end of Secondary school. Sadly this is not possible due to a variety of reasons, including transport costs being too high, no time on the timetable to fit swimming in and of course the lack of pools.
With regard to the closure of Kentish Town Baths and the lack of swimming for local schoolchildren, I would like to reiterate that the closure was no excuse. Risk Assessments play a major part in Health and Safety issues. Every teacher and Headteacher is requested to carry out Risk Assessments for their school’s activities. Knowing that the roof at the Baths was weakening and part of it had fallen into the pool would create a high assessment risk and responsible person would not put pupils lives in danger by taking them to a pool that was likely to cause injury.
It is extremely regrettable that the Baths have closed. They would have had to close at some point, and I would like to believe that the sooner they close the sooner they reopen.
In the meantime we have to find a solution for the children who are missing out on school swimming lessons.
I would like to make several suggestions.When my own school in Hackney suffered due to the closure of two pools, I negotiated with other boroughs and got my children fixed up for lessons in Tower Hamlets.
I would suggest schools contact neighbouring boroughs to see if a similar arrangement can be made. I would also suggest trying to get lessons during lunchtimes or after school hours.
In conclusion I feel solutions can be found. I want to see children learning to swim and enjoying the water.
I want to see more pools being built than being closed and I want to see a return to the situation that once existed for all our children in London Schools.
BRENDA HUMPHREYS
Chair of London Schools’
Swimming Association

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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