This year the Christmas Day arrangements at the bathing ponds, predictably, are very different to those we are used to. Due to the need to maintain Covid-secure arrangements, there will be no mass races at the Men’s Pond, with crowds cheering on the participants. This means, more positively, that the Ladies’ Pond will be open later than usual on Christmas Day as our lifeguards will not need to assist at the Men’s Pond races. There will also be a period of mixed bathing permitted at the Men’s Pond. At both ponds overall numbers will continue to be restricted to 60 swimmers each at a time.
The opening hours are as follows:
- Ladies’ Pond open 7.30 am to 1.00 pm (last entry 12.15 pm)
- Men’s Pond open 7.30 to 10.00 am (men only) and 10.30 to 11.30 am (mixed swimming and last entry 11.15 am)
This has been a very difficult year for everyone, with the pandemic causing health and economic distress, as well as our ongoing disagreements with the City of London over swimming charges and exclusion. Please take a moment on Christmas Day to thank the lifeguards for their continued hard work in the face of many challenges this year. They have worked through a public health crisis to keep swimming in the ponds possible.
We will not be able to hold our usual New Year’s Day festivities for 2021 either (in 2020 this attracted over 200 swimmers). When it is possible for us to meet again and celebrate the Ladies’ Pond in our usual crowded and disorderly manner, it will have been worth the wait.
KLPA MERCHANDISE
On 19 December 2020 between 10 am and 12 midday, the KLPA stall will be back at the Ladies’ Pond, where you can buy KLPA mugs (designed by Sue Hellard) and the hi-viz knitted hats so essential on dark and murky mornings at the pond.
