By Chris Zardis.
The hot weather definitely made me think, wouldn’t it be nice if we had a lido today. Unfortunately of course we don’t. And so I thought – there must be a campaign group for a lido in Southampton – but though there were plenty of groups and posts being nostalgic for the old one, there wasn’t a campaign group for a new one.
So I made one and joined that instead.
We are about to have a new PM who might be sympathetic to cities outside London that have historically been underfunded. And during the current hot spell, it struck me that a city our size really needs somewhere to escape the heat.
There’s a serious safety side to this too. Too many children die in the water during heatwaves, and having a safe place for them to cool down in the heat could also prevent future tragedies.
Southampton, though a waterfront city, lacks safe outdoor swimming places – I used to swim in the Itchen, but then we got the water quality results back. I think the Itchen should be made bathing quality too, but a lido fills a slightly different gap, as it would be an organised and safe family destination for everyone to relax.
For me, the obvious location for a lido is by the sea at Mayflower Park.
You could imagine that it would be not only popular with local families, but also adults enjoying a sundown cocktail watching cruise ships going by. It would be a tourist draw, give young people something to do, and make people feel good about living in our great city.
The Facebook group is open for all to join at facebook.com/groups/southamptonlido
Picture shows lido at Le Havre, by Valentin Ivantsov
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