SOUTHWARK PARK.

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Mayday in Southwark Park.

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c1907.

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The Jabez West fountain. It was the first memorial to commemorate a working-class man, a member of a local temperance society,1908 – 1913. Jabez West (1810-1884) was a famous speaker in his day. In the 1881 Census he was born in Scotland and was a Fellmonger by trade. At the time of the Census he was living at 51 Frean Street, Bermondsey.

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Southwark Park Lido 1967

Southwark Park once an outdoor swimming pool! ‘The Lido’, as it was known by local people, was closed to the public in 1992 due to unsustainable costs.

Initially there was no charge to use the lido, but costumes, slips and towels had to be hired.
The idea of a ‘bathing lake’ had first been suggested in 1891, but it was not until September 1923 that a reinforced concrete outdoor pool was achieved by the London County Council. It cost £4,999 (about £150,000 today) and was impressively large – over 55m long, 18m wide and in parts over 2m in depth. To begin with it was open all-year round, but there were no changing facilities, just benches, and bathers were screened from the rest of the park by an earth bank formed from the excavated material. However, by 1924 ten individual changing rooms and two communal dressing sheds were provided.

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Southwark Park. The Area Where the Bandstand is Nowadays.

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1913

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1926

Southwark park bowling club 1908