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Completed - 1938
Courtesy of Simmons Aerofilms actually taken on
31st May 1947
The Lido remained operational during
the war years and wounded servicemen were brought to several extra
hospitals improvised in Cheltenham and exhausted soldiers from
Dunkirk were sent here to recuperate.
A tattered cockney sergeant resting
his men before their next posting described the Sandford Pool as
“Heaven after Hell”. In 1942 America joined the war and the pool car
park was turned into a petrol depot to supply their convoys passing
through.
Two ropes were fixed down the centre
of the car park to make a path for bathers, except on occasions when
the area was required for testing survival equipment, which was done
in close secrecy.
Records show that in spite of war-time an average of 90,000 used the
Lido in 1943,44 and 45. |
