Olympic swimmer Wendy Burrell bids a 'farewell' to Carlisle's baths

Members of the public joined campaigners from the Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths to say 'goodbye and thank you', before the baths closed their doors - with no concrete plans for re-opening.

Ms Burrell, who was just 16 when she represented Great Britain at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, spent thousands of hours training with Carlisle Secondary Amateur Swimming Club at the James Street baths from the age of eight.

Presenting her 1968 Olympic pin badge to the Chair of the Friends Group, Julie Minns, Wendy Burrell said: "Without the Baths I wouldn't have had all the experiences I had as a teenager.

"I travelled to so many countries, made lots and lots of friends and it's all really thanks to Carlisle Baths."

Olympic swimmer Wendy Burrell opens the Silloth Lido in 1969 (Image: Newsquest)

Built at a cost of £7,750 with profits from the nearby Corporation owned gas works, Carlisle baths comprised first and second class plunge pools, slipper baths and showers for men, and a small ladies plunge pool when they opened in 1884.

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Although initially for bathing and washing, by the time of World War I, the plunge pools had become the focus for swimming, and in 1920 the city's first Amateur Swimming Club, Border City ASC, was formed.

Commenting on the closure, Julie Minns, Chair of the Friends of Carlisle Victorian, and Turkish Baths said: "Clearly it was time Carlisle had new modern swimming pools, but that does not mean the Victorian and Turkish Baths cannot continue to support the health and wellbeing of local people as they have for over a century.

Wendy Burrell shares some history at the historic bathhouse. (Image: Friends of Carlisle baths)

"We are delighted that Cumberland Council has committed to put health and wellbeing at the heart of everything they do, and we look forward to working with them to develop a flagship Centre for Health and Wellbeing serving the whole of Cumbria.

"The new university campus and the redevelopment of Carlisle Station will transform the area around James Street, and the new Southern Station entrance will deliver visitors to the door of the new Centre for Health and Wellbeing.

"If we are able to realise our vision in the next three to four years, visitors from Workington or Kendal, or even Manchester and Liverpool, will once again be able to use the Northwest's last remaining Turkish Baths," she said. 

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