Page 46 - feb-mag-2022

February 2022 February 2022

let alone half the population but in this case, to me it works. After all, the ladies
have exclusive use of their ladies pond and there is also a mixed bathing pond
where anyone could swim.
Records of Hampstead Heath go back
to before the Doomsday Book of 1086.
The Heath has remained mostly
common land though parts of it were
sold off for building in the early 19 .
th
Century. More recently, the City of
London Corporation managed it
having taken over from the GLC in
1989. The Heath covers 790 acres and is
the habitat and important refuge for
wildlife, including muntjac deer, grass
snakes, foxes, rabbit, squirrels, slow
worms, frogs and terrapins.
There are an amazing twenty five ponds on Hampstead Heath where on the
eastern side there are a series of eight former reservoirs (dug in the 17 . and 18 .
th
th
centuries) and are now known as Highgate Ponds. These ponds include the men’s
and ladies bathing ponds, model boating pond, a wildlife reserve pond and a
fishing lake. A short walk away to the south is the Parliament Hill Lido now
flourishing after a recent refurbishment.
We stood and chatted a while with Chris Ruocco who looked after the Highgate
Lifebuoys, an informal club of friends and fellow swimmers Chris, now in his late
60s had been a member since he was 14 and turned out to be a delightful
gentleman who still ran his own tailoring business in the city. The Highgate
Lifebuoys (yes, the spelling is correct) was formed in 1900 so had been in
existence well over a hundred years. The lifebuoys met every Wednesday evening
during the summer and put
on displays, races, organise
life saving and sea swimming
trips. They had recently
visited Dorset and we were
able to talk about Durdle
Door and some of the
magical places they could
swim along the Jurassic
coast. Before he left, he
kissed Diana’s hand which of
course delighted her. Who
said old fashioned charm
didn’t work?

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