Arriving at Long Bridges

Arriving at Long Bridges

Pat Hanks recalls the journey from Cowley Road to Long Bridges and the gender segregation rules that meant her siblings had to bathe separately.

Pat: I used to outdoor bathe, when I was young, before I was eight, at Long Bridges. And we went down – because we lived at the Cowley Road hospital then, ‘cause my father was the deputy master there – and we went down Magdalen Road and down through – we didn’t have to go up to the road where Donnington Bridge is, it was the road before that – and we went down to Meadow Lane. And halfway along Meadow Lane when we went in, there was a field that we had to cross. And then you got the ferry and it went across. And I believe you can still see, there’s still a ring in the wall there where the ferry used to pull up. And if you want to see it, there’s a little backwater that runs one side and that’s where the ferry started, and it just went straight across.

And we went to Long Bridges, but the trouble was, when my brother came with us, it was partitioned off. And the boys were not allowed to go anywhere near where the girls were. So mother stopped with us, but my brother – we had to have a picnic outside, because we couldn’t go in. But now, it’s all open, and it’s lovely there. But we only had the one side where the girls were and the boys had theirs, sadly. But it’s all different now, isn’t it?

And we had, I can remember her name, Mrs Parker, was the um lady bathing attendant there.