DO these pictures bring back memories?
For hundreds if not thousands of children in Warrington, this was where they learned to swim.
Warrington Baths was closed in 2004 and demolition started in 2011.
Now the site is home to a medical centre.
But as this remarkable set of pictures show, it was once home to a large complex of pools for teaching and competition.
Sunny Lowry was well known to aspiring swimmers across the town for her work at the Warrington Baths.
Along with husband Bill Anderson, she taught generations of youngsters to swim in the pools of the Legh Street facility.
But it was long before Mrs Lowry marched the Baths’ banks she made a name for herself, becoming the first British woman to swim the English Channel as a 22-year-old.
She would famously fuel her three to four hours training in the sea each day with an eight-egg omelette for breakfast.
Mrs Lowry, who died aged 97, second cousin to artist LS Lowry, completed the feat at her third attempt She left Cap Gris Nez in France on August 28, 1933.
At nearly 15st, Lowry expected she would lose a pound for every hour she spent in the sea during the swim.
Supported by trainer Jabez Wolffe, she set off and swam mostly throughout the night – Wolffe believed getting near land in the morning would give Lowry the incentive to finish.
Some 15 hours and 41 minutes after leaving France, Lowry reached St Margaret’s Bay, Dover and was received by a large crowd.
She was said to be covered in grease, she had smeared her body in lanolin and chilli paste to combat the cold, and had been fed coffee, cocoa and beef tea by the boat crew.
The crowd were particularly impressed with Lowry’s bravery, as when she emerged from the sea her face and neck were swollen from being stung by jellyfish.
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