n 1902, an open air swimming pool was built, located by the cliffs at Step Rock in the bay. A two-storey, concrete building stood above the rear of the pool with changing rooms and a balcony. The pool was divided into two sections by a wide platform and submerged at high tide, flushed out and replenished twice daily. This safe enclosure prevented people from being able to drift too far out into the sea and allowed children to swim under supervision. Tiered seating was added in the late 1930s, and it was used as a swimming pool until 1978. The walls of the open air pool are still visible today, but sadly the site now forms part of St Andrews Aquarium, but it doesn't look that much different now. The Aquarium is undergoing restoration at the moment. I thought maybe it might have been restored as public bathing pool, but no such luck. There would be no money in that.

This PIP photo, taken about 1949 - 1950, is of my Mum, Dad and me, and was taken by a street photographer, a common thing in the 40s and 50s. One was given a ticket and collected the photo a couple of days later. We are marching along to the bathing pool, on what seems to be a chilly day, but I was going for a dook. When I had had a swim, it was cold when I got out the water, but mum had made me what we called a 'chittery bite', a sandwich, which stopped one from shivering - supposedly. It brings back such happy memories of my childhood. I was a late baby, and my father died when I was just 30 and my mother eight years later, so I didn't have a lot of time with them. But the time I did have was so very happy, and with a great sense of freedom.

The long beach in the background, the West Sands, is where I learned to swim, and incidentally features in the opening of the film 'Chariots of Fire'.

We go to Scotland at least once every year, and I rarely miss a visit to St.Andrews, my childhood home