The Club was formed way back in 1897 making it one of the oldest swimming clubs in the UK.
We are lucky enough to swim in the lovely Victorian swimming pool in Church Street, Westbury. It was back in 1887 that Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee provided many towns with the incentive to build public baths and this was further encouraged courtesy of a £5,000 gift from William Henry Laverton, the archetypal Victorian capitalist-philanthropist and owner of the Angel Mill, here in Westbury.
The Club was formed way back in 1897 making it one of the oldest swimming clubs in the UK.
The “baths” were opened in May 1888 and the water was piped directly from Bitham Springs and not heated so a fairly chilly experience! Thankfully, there are now boilers to heat the water and the pool modernised to be light and bright. However the roof’s original decorative ironwork remains intact and still displays the coats of arms of Westbury and the Laverton family.
One other feature, which is unique however, is Westbury Pool’s resident ghost who goes by the name of George! Who is this ghost? Well, some say it is a man who tragically jumped to his death from the balcony overlooking the deep end, others that he is a boiler stoker as some have seen him standing at the pool’s edge in his overalls. We will never really know!