Swimming in Prebbleton

With the hot weather we were having earlier this year locals might have been wishing there was a swimming pool in the town to cool off in.

If you had been living here in the 1890’s you would have been able to take a dip in Mr William Hazlehurst’s swimming pool located at his property on the corner of Birchs and Springs Road. The opening was a big event in February 1891, complete with the Prebbleton Brass Band playing and members of the Pioneer Bicycle Club from Christchurch joined residents in the celebrations. The pool was quite large 73ft long, 27ft wide with a graduated depth of 2ft - 9ft. (22.2mx8.2m, depth .6m - 2.7m)

It had a gravel bottom with water coming from the Waimakariri water race with a continual flow in and out to “retain the requisite freshness and purity”. There were “two commodious dressing boxes” available and a supply of trunks and towels were on hand so the report in the Lyttelton Times on 2 February 1899 tells us. The pool and dressing boxes were enclosed within a “high and substantial fence”.

In 1894 a town meeting was held to set up the Prebbleton Amateur Swimming Club with the subscriptions being paid to Mr Hazlehurst for the “use of his baths”. For the times the subscriptions were quite expensive: 5 shillings for over 16yr, 3.6d under 16yr and 2.6d under 12yr. The club held competitions against other Christchurch swimming clubs, and members possibly went to swimming events held elsewhere.

The pool opening was advertised around October each year enticing visitors from Christchurch to come and enjoy the pool. Specific mention of the Pioneer Bicycle Club in these advertisements might indicate that Prebbleton was a favourite destination for their day trips. Sessions were also set aside for ladies only during the week. The last opening day notice appeared in October 1899 indicating the pool possibly closed around that time.

Once Mr Hazlehurst’s pool closed the swimming club possibly ceased but its name appeared in newspaper advertisements from 1937 until as late as 1967, advising of annual meetings, raffle results and other activities.

Around 1926 plans were being made for a pool at the school which was eventually built with funds being raised locally and was located where the staff carpark is now. From memories recorded by Daphne McAven some years ago, this pool was dug by hand and was also filled from a water race. One of memories told is of the tadpoles and eels encountered while having a swim “but we never got ill or anything”. Parents would take turns being on duty and later still, a key could be hired for the summer allowing access to the pool after school hours, which was very popular.

The main complaint about the school pool seemed to be that it was always very cold and with the need for much more stringent hygiene standards and space for the school, the pool was demolished in 2018 to make way for new classrooms.

Unless you have a pool on your own property you will now need to head to Rolleston for a swim, but at least you wont encounter any tadpoles or eels, but possibly some other “alerts”.