Title
Learning to swim at Tumbling Bay
Subject
Jenny Holloway recalls learning to swim at Tumbling Bay while at school.
Transcription
Audio 1 Transcript:
Jenny: Well, we’d – we’d turn up on a certain day (they have a coach now), um, and I can’t remember whether we got the bus, but I’ve got a feeling that we rolled – I still rolled a swimming costume up in a towel. Okay, so you’ve got your towel, you’ve got your swimming costume, and then we would – I think we used to walk up to Tumbling Bay from Botley School. And that’s where we were taught to swim from the side. And it was cold [laughs].
Interviewer: And what did it feel like to be…in the river, especially learning to swim?
Jenny: You had to get over the fact that when you stepped in – ‘cause I still don’t dive in or anything – you would have silt up to your ankles and beyond. It all depended whether you were that end or the deep end. I- I tended to stay in the middle bit, ‘cause I’m not very tall. But that’s what you had. It wasn’t a clean, beautiful, pristine swimming pool, I mean, you stepped into. And then when you came out, you came up the steps – the steps are still there – and we used to just wash our feet when we came out.
Audio 2 Transcript:
Jenny: Yeah, you were just told to stand so far – there was a bar running along Tumbling Bay. I don’t- don’t know if it’s still there, I’ve gone back there. It was weird going back one day, umm, and I actually ended up crying – suddenly I was back there, and it was glorious. I could hear all our voices. And there was a bar, and the teacher would tell us to stand so far from the bar and try and take off, and that’s how you learned to swim. And you just got further and further away from the bar. Some learned to swim, some didn’t. I did.
Jenny: Well, we’d – we’d turn up on a certain day (they have a coach now), um, and I can’t remember whether we got the bus, but I’ve got a feeling that we rolled – I still rolled a swimming costume up in a towel. Okay, so you’ve got your towel, you’ve got your swimming costume, and then we would – I think we used to walk up to Tumbling Bay from Botley School. And that’s where we were taught to swim from the side. And it was cold [laughs].
Interviewer: And what did it feel like to be…in the river, especially learning to swim?
Jenny: You had to get over the fact that when you stepped in – ‘cause I still don’t dive in or anything – you would have silt up to your ankles and beyond. It all depended whether you were that end or the deep end. I- I tended to stay in the middle bit, ‘cause I’m not very tall. But that’s what you had. It wasn’t a clean, beautiful, pristine swimming pool, I mean, you stepped into. And then when you came out, you came up the steps – the steps are still there – and we used to just wash our feet when we came out.
Audio 2 Transcript:
Jenny: Yeah, you were just told to stand so far – there was a bar running along Tumbling Bay. I don’t- don’t know if it’s still there, I’ve gone back there. It was weird going back one day, umm, and I actually ended up crying – suddenly I was back there, and it was glorious. I could hear all our voices. And there was a bar, and the teacher would tell us to stand so far from the bar and try and take off, and that’s how you learned to swim. And you just got further and further away from the bar. Some learned to swim, some didn’t. I did.
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