Following yesterday’s government announcement that outdoor swimming “pools” can re-open with effect from 11 July 2020, the City of London plans to open the Ladies’ Pond tomorrow, Saturday 11 July 2020, for 2 separate one hour sessions, from 7-8 am and 8.30-9.30 am, with cleaning taking place between sessions. We understand that the same pattern is likely to be followed on Sunday 12 July.
A maximum of 30 swimmers per session will be permitted and safe-distancing measures will be in place.
Tickets must be purchased on line from the Hampstead Heath website in order to swim, there will be no admission to anyone who has not booked a ticket.
Please note it is the City of London that is managing the booking process and platform NOT the KLPA.
We will forward links to the booking system for further dates to all members as soon as we receive them BUT tickets to the trial sessions sold out within minutes and we don’t know in advance when we will be notified.
For this reason we advise you to keep checking the City of London website for release of the booking system rather than waiting for our email.
Your comments to the City of London about these procedures can be sent to HH-Swimming@cityoflondon.gov.uk but please copy to klpamailbox@gmail.com. In particular please let the City know if you experience any difficulties due to problems booking on line or additional access needs.
We understand the need to put in place safe-distancing measures as the ponds re-open. However, we also appreciate that many swimmers who have waited patiently for the re-opening will be disappointed by the limited number of tickets available, the enforced payment mechanisms which have been introduced, and the timing of the release of booking information.
Thank you to all KLPA members and swimmers from other ponds who turned out on Sunday afternoon for a safe-distanced protest at the Ladies’ Pond, and to everyone who helped with stewarding. About 200 of us were able to form a protective ring around the boundaries of the Ladies’ Pond from gate to gate via the Stock Pond path. We hope this has sent a clear message to the City of London about how much we care for our pond.
We would also like to say a heartfelt thank you to Nicky Mayhew who has just stood down as KLPA Chair, after making enormous efforts on behalf of KLPA members during a very challenging period at the Ladies’ Pond. We aim to carry on the good work and live up to her standards.
There is now a new ‘Swim for Victory’ section on this website under ‘Campaigns’ and KLPA members are encouraged to keep campaigning against the new enforced charging regime at the Hampstead Heath bathing ponds. We have produced some briefing notes to assist with further emailing which can be seen here. Please make use of these to assist in correspondence with your elected representatives and letters to the press, as well as continuing to write to the decision-makers at the City of London.
The KLPA believes firmly that:
The swimming ponds are world-famous as an integral and historic part of Hampstead Heath. The methods required to ‘enforce’ payment will destroy their unique atmosphere.
Swimming provides a community lifeline and is vital to the physical and mental health of many local people.
The culture of the ponds is one where everyone is equal. There are many swimmers for whom £4.00 and £2.40 will be unaffordable, but there are others who would be willing to donate more IF they could be confident the money would be spent wisely.
During the consultation the City ‘benchmarked’ charges for the ponds against swimming ‘facilities’ such as the Royal Docks, West Reservoir and the Serpentine which cater for swimmers engaged in athletic training. This is not the way in which most people swim in the ponds. Many of the women who visit the Ladies’ Pond do not necessarily swim but come to seek solace and inspiration in a safe, accessible place.
Thank you again for all your support and efforts – together we are strong.
Recent months have been tough for most of us. In addition to the threat of Covid-19 and the pressures of lockdown, we have had to contend with closure of all the ponds during the pandemic and the unwelcome prospect of the City changing the atmosphere of the Ladies’ Pond for ever.
We can’t wave a magic wand and make it all go away, but some of our creative fellow swimmers have been focusing on the positives of pond life to celebrate our extraordinary community. Take a look at the latest additions to the Lockdown Gallery for photographs, films and a new book in aid of charity by Ruth Corney featuring twenty years of photographs of Ladies’ Pond swimmers, together with ‘Pond Postcards’ curated by Highgate Festival Director Alicia Pivaro, and two galleries of her own photographs from KLPA archivist Sarah Saunders.
While you’re there, scroll up for more recent films, images and words from pond swimmers, and a tribute to a much loved and now sadly lost canine visitor.
Many of you will have seen the Highgate Festival’s pink plaques celebrating the achievements of women and ‘reclaiming pink and the past’. We are delighted and honoured to find that this year’s Festival has awarded a pink plaque to celebrate us, the swimmers and lifeguards of the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond. The plaque will be erected in September (Covid-19 restrictions permitting), proving again that we are not just another ‘swimming facility’.
Although lockdown is easing and the bathing ponds have been prepared and tested for safe re-opening, government guidelines still ban their opening, even though other open water swimming venues such as the West Reservoir in Stoke Newington are already operating.
Despite this, together with other swimmers’ associations and groups, we have resumed our campaign against the City of London’s decision to enforce the increased charges for swimming decided before lockdown (from £2 to £4 for an adult ticket and from £1 to £2.40 for concessions).
We have asked them to reconsider their new charging regime in recognition of the financial, physical and mental stress caused to the community by the impact of Covid-19 but so far they have not been willing to do so.
On Sunday 5 July at 3pm, KLPA members, together with fellow swimmers from the Highgate Men’s Pond and the Mixed Pond Associations, will gather at the front gate of the Ladies’ Pond in Millfield Lane to demonstrate their shared connection to and respect for the Hampstead ponds and other swimmers. Expect colourful masks, and two metre socially distanced physical connection as pond swimmers embrace the ponds as closely as current circumstances allow.
Below is a summary of the key points relevant to pond swimmers discussed at the virtual meeting of the City of London’s Hampstead Heath Management Committee on 3 June. An updated City proposal, circulated at the start of the meeting (with no opportunity to review it in advance) can be downloaded here. Please note that this plan is the City’s NOT ours. They invited comments on the original version and – following a narrow majority of KLPA members voting in favour of co-operation – KLPA representatives met with CoL on 2 June, the eve of the Management Committee meeting. Our feedback is not reflected in their document.
In short there has been no real movement in the City’s plans beyond responding to COVID-19 by controlling access to swimming in the ponds once it is deemed safe to return. Ahead of the Management Committee meeting we suggested (as we also did before lockdown) that they might suspend the increase in charges – or even offer the limited number of swims available free of charge – during the “recovery” period (see email here). As yet we have received no response and as far as we know our email was not forwarded to the committee. The City intends to go forward with enforcement of the increased charges, alongside its proposed measures to re-open the ponds and lido to very limited numbers of swimmers. The earliest possible date for opening is 4 July 2020, and the actual date will depend on national progress with controlling the spread of COVID-19 and preparedness of staff and premises. The technology needed to implement the limited re-opening, not to mention that required for the longer-term implementation of the compulsory charges, is yet to be finalised.
At our on-line meeting with the Heath management and Anne Fairweather, incoming Chair of the Management Committee, KLPA representatives outlined many practical concerns about the City’s plans, including: season ticket chaos, digital exclusion, crowds of people who haven’t booked attempting to enter the ponds on warm days, and unclear rescue protocols. So far there does not appear to have been much attempt to address these in detail, and we remain concerned that the City’s plans to re-open the ponds and lido will be riven with difficulties, even before we consider the impact of inflated compulsory charges on our pond community.
It is suggested that members with questions about the proposed re-opening should address them directly to Heath Management hampstead.heath@cityoflondon.gov.uk and/or the Chair of the Hampstead Heath Management Committee anne.fairweather@cityoflondon.gov.uk. If you do write, please also send a copy to us at klpamailbox@gmail.com so that we also understand your concerns.
Everyone will have their own questions, but points that seem particularly important include:
How will fair rationing of available swimming time be achieved?
How will abuse of the on-line system (e.g. multiple bookings) be prevented?
How will those who can’t use digital services or contactless payment be supported?
Will swimmers with disabilities be supported?
When and how will season ticket sales resume?
How long will these “short term” measures be in place?
Our recent survey confirmed that the majority of KLPA members continue to oppose the City’s new charging regime (enforced payment of charges increased by 100% for adults from £2.00 to £4.00, and by 140% for concessions from £1.00 to £2.40). Co-operation with limited re-opening of the pond does not imply our agreement with or approval of the City’s decision.
Now that lockdown is easing and many people are less preoccupied with the immediate impact of the health emergency, it seems possible to resume campaigning without being insensitive to those in the wider community who have suffered as a result of the virus. If you wish to be involved please email klpamailbox@gmail.com to let us know.
Swan Rescue volunteer Louisa Green sent us this update on the swan romance. If you head over to the KLPA Lockdown Gallery you will find more pictures:
“Our long-term widow on Highgate No. 1 pond, who has remained alone since the tragic death of her mate in 2016, finally found love at The Swan Sanctuary in Shepperton in March. She was admitted after spending a few days on a neighbouring roof, and he was coming to the end of a two month stay following surgery to remove two fishing hooks from this throat. After knocking back every potential mate for four years since her love died, something about Wallace must have charmed our widow over those 36 hours she was at The Sanctuary. The pair were brought back to her pond in Hampstead the day before the lockdown started by my colleague from The Sanctuary, Gill Walker, were released onto the water by us both and, well, the rest is history! Ten weeks on, and we finally have the pitter patter of tiny webbed feet!“
The story is attracting attention on broadcast and social media and the Swan Sanctuary is receiving new donations as a result.
We'd like to tell you all a story of love, loss and big blue Ikea bags, by popular demand! It's the story of a swan, and takes place on London's famous Hampstead Heath (that's us). Back in 2016, two swans lived happily in the Heath's ponds (on the Highgate side)… pic.twitter.com/ia0TS0H5Vj
Warm and sunny weather has made closure of the Heath swimming ponds seem particularly cruel; thank you all for your understanding and support during lockdown. We know how desperate everyone is to get back in the water in the interests of physical and mental wellbeing, but the epidemic is not yet over and below is an update on the current situation.
Although the Prime Minister announced that swimming could resume in lakes and the sea, this does not apply to waters such as the Heath swimming ponds where legislation and Health & Safety Executive advice requires lifeguard supervision. The only exception to this is the Winter Swimming Club (WSC) at the Mixed Pond, which is licensed to allow swimming without lifeguards between October and April for certified members only. Swim England has forbidden the WSC (an affiliate club) to reopen until further notice. There are particular historic reasons for the club’s existence that would make it difficult, if not impossible, to replicate at the other ponds.
There has been much publicity about the Serpentine re-opening for swimming this week. This is NOT for the general public but only for members of the Serpentine Swimming Club, who are entitled, under a longstanding licence from the Royal Parks, to swim in the early morning without lifeguards all year round. In contrast, our association is simply a user group and membership does not confer any rights to swim.
The Royal Life Saving Society has not yet issued guidance but, having talked to our own lifeguards, we accept the City of London’s decision that under current government guidelines it is not yet possible to resume swimming and ensure either staff or swimmer safety and protection from transmission of COVID-19.
The KLPA and the other Heath swimming associations are now in discussion with Hampstead Heath management about plans to re-open the swimming ponds as soon as government guidance allows. We will be contacting you again over the next few days with more information about this, but please note that timings will continue to depend on COVID-19 infection rates and control measures.
In the meantime, if you have any queries about matters such as season tickets please contact Heath management at hampstead.heath@cityoflondon.gov.uk. To report incidents such as members of the public swimming illegally or other infringements of lockdown rules call the Heath Constabulary on 020 8340 5260 or in an emergency dial 999. Outside their hours of operation you can report the matter to the Metropolitan Police via 101 or online (in an emergency dial 999).
We have been advised that there will be a demonstration on Monday 18 May at the Hampstead Heath Boating Pond, calling on the City of London to re-open the bathing ponds.
Please note that the KLPA and other Heath swimming associations have had no involvement with this demonstration and have not supported it. We all look forward to swimming again, but not until it is safe for Heath staff, swimmers and other members of the public to do so.
One week into lockdown, winter swimmers are missing regular immersion and all of us are wondering when we will be able to return to the Pond. For anyone wanting to remind themselves of the joys of pond swimming, Curzon Home Cinema is offering the opportunity to view The Ponds film at home.
The current health crisis will, understandably, dominate the news agenda over the coming weeks, but the City of London’s plans for the ponds continues to attract media coverage, most recently in the Weekend Telegraph.
Although we won’t cull anyone who hasn’t paid from the membership list while the crisis persists, today is officially the last date by which memberships should be renewed for 2020-2021. You can download a membership form which gives details of how to do it.
FINALLY: please remember to email us if you are isolated at home and in need of practical or moral support; a number of members have generously offered to assist and we will try to match you with someone close at hand who can help.
We hope you remain safe and well at this challenging time.
