You can help to raise the profile of the KLPA and support its campaigning work with this hard to miss headwear.
On Saturday20 November 2021, KLPA hi-viz knitted hats will be on sale at the Ladies’ Pond from 8.30 am to 11 am. These hats have been sourced again this year at the request of lifeguards, so that swimmers who prefer to wear a knitted hat remain visible in poor light. The hats are on sale at £8 each or two for £15 and are available in fluorescent orange or yellow. KLPA pin badges will also be available for £10. We can take cash, cheque or card payment.
The KLPA Tea Party will take place on the following weekend, on Sunday 28 November 2021, from 3 pm to 5 pm. This feature of the KLPA social calendar is taking place for the first time since 2019, and will be held at the Highgate Library Civic and Cultural Centre (details here). If you wish to attend, please RSVP via the button below as there is a limited capacity of 50 people:
This is to let you know that the Judicial Review hearing date of 9-10 November 2021 has had to be adjourned due to unforeseen circumstances. This does not affect the merits of the case brought by Christina Efthimiou, and supported by the KLPA, and we are awaiting a new hearing date. We think it is likely that the case will be listed early in the New Year and will update members as soon as we have more information.
Thank you to everyone who has been asking about how to show support on the day and we hope you will not be too disappointed or inconvenienced by this news.
The KLPA is continuing to fundraise for this case and donations can still be received on our crowdfunding page here.
In previous years Hallowe’en has been marked in a colourful and raucous fashion at the Ladies’ Pond. The options were very limited last year and it is still necessary to exercise some caution this year, but the Ladies’ Pond swimmers can never be completely subdued…..
On Sunday 31 October 2021, swimmers are invited to don their spooky costumes, indulge in a little cackling, and to enjoy the spirit of the Ladies’ Pond.
The KLPA will be selling merchandisebetween 9 am and 11 am at the pond. This includes our seasonal mugs (£10 each or a set of 4 for £35), knitted hats (£6 each or £10 with a donation) and the Wild Swimming Walks book (£10). We can take payment by cash, cheque or card.
Looking forward to your company whether you are marking All Hallows Eve, Hallowe’en or Samhain.
A Date for Your Diary – 28 November 2021
KLPA members were asked for their views on attending a Winter Tea Party, and voted overwhelmingly in favour.
Please hold Sunday 28 November 2021 in your diary 3-5pm. We aim to hold a tea party this year, so long as public health advice remains in our favour. More news to follow.
We usually hold a members’ tea party in late November. That could not happen last year for obvious reasons and we were, in any case, in the middle of the second national lockdown at that time. The tea party has been an important part of the KLPA year and was an opportunity for some members who can no longer swim regularly to get together socially.
Since we last held a tea party in November 2019, many new members have joined the KLPA. For those of you who have not attended before, the tea party involves members bringing fresh baked contributions to share, and the KLPA organises a venue and hot drinks. We usually have a guest speaker. For several years our venue has been the Highgate Library in Chester Road, which has a function room for hire.
We would like to know what interest there is in holding a tea party this year, using a very brief survey (2 questions). Please let us know by clicking the link below:
We still need to raise funds for the Judicial Review We have a date for the High Court hearing (see here). Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. The KLPA is continuing to fund raise for this case, to offset possible adverse costs. Details of our crowd funding page can be seen here. If you have not already donated, please consider helping the KLPA to keep the ponds accessible to all. Even if you have already donated, please encourage friends, family and colleagues who may be interested.
In January 2021 the KLPA conducted a survey of swimmers about the economic impact, so far, of the increased and enforced swimming charges on Hampstead Heath. We shared that survey widely with the other swimmers’ associations and beyond, receiving 600 responses.
The data gathered was helpful in providing background information for the legal case being supported by the KLPA, which alleges disability discrimination by the City of London Corporation.
That survey was conducted before the 2021 price increases were decided upon and implemented. We now need to get updated feedback from swimmers which takes these more recent increases into account.
Please find below a link to a brief survey which builds on the questions asked earlier this year. Your input is really important, and appreciated.
This survey will run until midday on Wednesday 13 October 2021 and can be completed entirely anonymously.
We will be sharing this survey link with the other swimmers’ associations and beyond. Please feel free to forward this link to any swimmers who you think might be interested, including those who no longer feel able to use the ponds due to the new charges.
The KLPA is supporting a claim of discrimination arising from the charging regime at the Hampstead Heath Bathing Ponds. Claimant, Christina Efthimiou, is a KLPA member who has been affected by the enforced and increased charges to swim, especially since the disproportionate increases to concession season tickets in 2021. In August 2021 we received news this application for Judicial Review had received the permission of the High Court to proceed (press coverage hereand here). This means that the court believes there is an arguable case.
We have recently received news that the case is listed for 1.5 days on 9 to 10 November 2021. The format of this hearing (in person, virtual or hybrid) will not be confirmed until nearer the time, depending on public health advice at that time. We will let KLPA members know when we have more information about this
We still need to raise funds Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. The KLPA is continuing to fund raise for this case, to offset possible adverse costs. Details of our crowd funding page can be seen here. If you have not already donated, please consider helping the KLPA to keep the ponds accessible to all. Even if you have already donated, please forward this email to any friends, family and colleagues who may be interested. The QR Code below can be used for this purpose too.
The Heath is being monetised and over regulated
Over the last couple of years, we have not only seen the enforcement and inflation of charges to swim. The City of London Corporation has also done the following:
Under cover of Covid, regulated access to the ponds through use of online pre-booking in the summer season, even after most Covid restrictions have been lifted;
Introduced the use of Fixed Penalty Notices for infringements of the sometimes bizarre Heath bye-laws (items 34, 35, 39 and 47 make interesting reading);
Is introducing licences for dog walkers which they will have to pay for;
Started to explore the possibility of charging for toilets using contactless payment;
Tried to take out speculative injunctions against “persons unknown”, but had to drop this idea for Hampstead Heath when challenged in court over similar moves at Epping Forest (details hereand here); and
Banned all night fishing at the Vale of Health (details hereand here).
By challenging the charging regime at the bathing ponds, the KLPA is involved in a wider battle about how our Heath is managed by the City of London Corporation. The KLPA continues to support the efforts of front line workers on the Heath, and our campaigning is focused on the decisions made by the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Management Committee.
It’s nearly two years since KLPA members were invited to the Men’s Pond for a shared breakfast, and longer still since we hosted our friends from the Men’s Pond at the Ladies’ Pond. So much has prevented us from getting together in the meantime. It is with pleasure that we send a long overdue invitation to the Highgate Men’s Pond Association to join us for breakfast on. Saturday 25 September 2021 from 8 to 10am.
There will still be some practical constraints on what we can do. The KLPA will provide croissants, and we ask members to bring their own hot drinks, as we cannot access our usual window hatch to serve drinks from the lifeguards’ office.
Our guests will be able to access swimming by using their wristbands or paying by card/cash as usual. The refreshments and social gathering will take place on the upper meadow which can be accessed without paying, if not swimming. This avoids congestion on the deck as well. The changing area for the men who are swimming will be the spillway meadow.
KLPA merchandise including mugs and hi-viz knitted hats will be on sale near the stewards hut (price details here).
This event will be an opportunity to renew our friendships with swimmers from the Men’s Pond. After a year and a half of pond closures and restricted access, we are continuing to claim back this space for our community of pond swimmers.
KLPA fund raising towards the costs of a Judicial Review, challenging the charges to swim at the bathing ponds, continues. The charges are being challenged on grounds of disability discrimination, and the claim has permission from the High Court to proceed. Donations can still be made to our crowd funding appeal here or using the QR Code below.
The Hampstead Heath Consultative Committee meets again after nearly 5 months, at 5.30 pm on Monday 6 September 2021. This meeting will have a virtual public gallery which can be viewed here. The full agenda pack, which is significantly shorter than usual, can be downloaded here. Items of note include the arrangements for the winter swimming season (page 30) and the continued intention to consider proposals for contactless payment to access Heath toilets (page 50). Draft guidance on the use of drones on the Heath is contained at pages 33-35.
The next meeting of the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Woods and Queen’s Park Management Committee is at 4pm on Wednesday 29 September 2021. Details of the agenda pack are not yet available but should be uploaded here later in September.
The KLPA is continuing to fundraise to support legal action against the City of London Corporation, challenging the discriminatory charging regime at the bathing ponds. The application for Judicial Review has permission to proceed. Details of our crowdfunding page are here. For quick access we have created a QR Code which you can use to encourage friends, colleagues and relatives to donate:
Agi Katz and her daughter Julia Landes at the Ladies’ Pond in 2020
We have received the sad news that Agi Katz, a long-term Ladies’ Pond swimmer and KLPA member, died on 12 August 2021. Agi will be remembered fondly by many of our community, and had been a regular year-round pond swimmer since the 1990s. She swam a distinctive side-stroke and was a kind, welcoming presence at the Ladies’ Pond.
Agi, who survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary from 1944, arrived in England as a refugee following the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. She lived near to the Heath on the Holly Lodge Estate, and for many years ran the Boundary Gallery. In 2019 Agi was diagnosed with cancer but did not let this put her off an active life. The Covid-secure measures at the Ladies’ Pond from July 2020 actually made it possible for her to continue to swim safely and her daughter Julia has praised the support of the Lifeguards in making this happen.
In 2020 the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution and photographer Ruth Corney produced “Remarkable Highgate Women” which included Agi’s story here.
On Wednesday 18 August 2021, Agi’s daughters Julia and Alex would like to invite her friends to gather at the Ladies’ Pond and join a swim at 9.15 am, followed by breakfast, and shared memories of Agi.
We have been informed that the legal case against the City of London Corporation, challenging the new charging regime at the bathing ponds, has been granted permission to proceed. Individual claimant Christina Efthimiou, supported by the KLPA, has claimed that these charges amount to indirect disability discrimination and a failure to make reasonable adjustments, in breach of the Equality Act 2010.
This granting of permission means that the High Court has agreed that there is an arguable case. Until now the City of London Corporation has been dismissive of the concerns raised by the Heath swimmers’ associations about exclusion at the bathing ponds, so this decision is encouraging. We thank the legal team at Leigh Day for their diligent work on this case.
The KLPA and the other swimmers’ associations sought from early 2020 to work with the City of London Corporation to increase income at the bathing ponds without excluding those who cannot afford to pay. This approach was rejected in March 2020, but the swimmers’ associations have continued to offer to work with the City to address the shortcomings of their new arrangements. The City could still work with us constructively.
In the meantime we do still need to fund raise to support the cost of this challenge and potential adverse costs – PLEASE DONATE HERE
Today’s press coverage of this legal challenge can be seen here (Guardian 10 August 2021).
Thank you to everyone who has supported the fund raising so far, please encourage your friends and family to donate if possible.
