Mary Hooper (UK, 2026)
16 min
This audio work has been created with the voices of people who have memories of swimming and working at the former Bathing Pool in St. Leonards. The pool was built in 1933 as an Olympic training pool for the Empire Games, one of only 3 in the UK, and as a public resource to encourage health and fitness. The pool passed into private hands in 1960 and was turned into a holiday camp, but it became financially unviable by the 1980’s. The pool was demolished in1989 and is now a much contested site between local people who would like to keep the open space as community resource and a series of Developers, who plan to build up to 146 dwellings.
This collection of memories spanning 60 years of the Bathing Pool’s life is a remarkable example of how buildings can generate a Genius Loci of people and place. Memories, history and identity are anchored in these places, showing how important it is to create and preserve public spaces where everyone can congregate in an egalitarian space, building memories that last a life time and beyond, marking changes in culture, life style and community over generations.
Thank you to the people whose voices have contributed many precious, funny and moving memories that bring the Bathing Pool back to life: Cath Cooper, Andrew Weight, Doug Edworthy, Rob Edworthy, Sally Smith, Janette Morley, John Purfield, Jessica Beaghen, John Stout, and Polly Sharkey.
Produced by Mary Hooper
This audio story was developed with in collaboration with Lucia Scazzocchio Social Broadcasts and XMTR. Many thanks to Artists Now Company who provided bursary support to seed fund this project.
Commissioned by XMTR Audio Arts Festival 2026