Wonderful shot featuring a group of happy bathers in the Nene during the 1930s.
Pre-dating any other bathing facilities, the “bathing place” in the River Nene just off River Lane was the place to be from the 1920s onwards.
The council dumped tons of clean gravel into three enclosed areas alongside the bank to create The Bathing Place right at the bottom of River Lane. The enclosures were made up of long heavy wooden planks, covered on the top with coco-matting. On the opposite side of the river, where the water was deeper, a diving platform was tethered to the bank which consisted of oil drums welded together and topped with wooden planks covered with coco-matting.
