GATEKEEPING THE PONDS
"In the summer... I think you then lose that kind of camaraderie or community feeling. People are there for such different reasons."
Two things that came up throughout conversations with my participants was the stark difference between the ponds in the winter and the ponds in the summer, as well as conversations around changing access to the ponds through introduction of formalised payment and booking systems. Although the ponds in the summer is beyond the scope of this project (the official summer season starts in June), all participants spoke of the contrast in the experience of swimming at the ponds in warmer weather and, in particular, the newer digital booking system.
"Those systems do lock a lot of people out of a place that shouldn't that you know, in spirit when you're there"
The changing systems of entry at the ponds, and the way these effected the experience of swimming, was brought up by all of my participants. (Previously payment was not formalised - it was a system of trust and often ad hoc payments.) It was also in this area that participants felt that their experience was most mediated by the digital - the necessity to pay at entrance meant that for all except the participant with a regular swimmers' wristband, they were forced to have their phone with them in order to tap in. Below is the audio of a participant paying for entry into the pond.
Although my participants did not personally find the circa £4 cost per swim personally off-putting, several said that perhaps if they were to swim more it would be a struggle, and most were concerned at what the cost meant for wider access. Prices are higher than they were before the pandemic, and participants did comment that they knew this has been difficult for some regular swimmers, and that it can be offputting for newer swimmers.
"That used to be really nice and quite tangible because you know in the end of February and March you could just see like, oh wow, I've been here more days than I haven't."
One participant - the longest standing pond swimmer - had a ponds wristband with which users can tap in and pay in a streamlined way. They spoke of how it's useful as a regular swimmer as it's easy to top up, but does take the spontaneity out of both going to the ponds and the enjoyment of the previous system of sometimes paying and sometimes not, paying a tenner sometimes and skipping the fee at others - the element of trust involved. They spoke fondly about the previous analogue way of tracking regular swimmers, in which there was a logbook of names and dates where regular swimmers could track their attendance across an entire season. They described the sensory experience of the wobbly and pulped paper from so many wet swimmers signing their names.
This participant felt that digitization, although convenient, had created a loss of tangible record of pond-swimming, as it wasn't something they tracked through their wristband (or wanted to), but they had very much enjoyed the idea of a communal physical record - however soggy.
"It just really took away the kind of spontaneity of it, and it was exclusionary in lots of ways. I think a lot of older swimmers in particular found it quite difficult to navigate."
Multiple participants felt that pandemic restrictions had been used as an excuse by the local authority to monetize and regulate the ponds through formalized payment systems, and all participants were concerned with the booking system's impact on access. That older swimmers would find the system difficult to navigate, anyone new to pond swimming would not understand how on-the-ball one has to be for the online booking system; the requirement for a smartphone, access to internet, timing cut offs that all create barriers to swimming. One participant acknowledged the paradox that they both feel smug for being able to game the online booking system and being aware of when to turn up for free swims and how to get in, while also feeling frustrated at its impact on less experienced swimmers.
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"There is something just so nebulous and opaque and infuriating... ultimately I don't think swimming spaces should be charging people to swim anyway."
Although a universal reason my participants have given for enjoying swimming at the pond in the winter centred around the calmness and uncrowded nature compared to summer, and the community feel of those who choose to swim in cold weather, all were adamant that as many people as possible should be able to access and swim in the ponds. One participant drew particularly negative comparisons to the opaque digital booking systems at play in many of London's lidos and outdoor swimming spaces through complex apps, and argued that swimming should be heavily subsidised for the health of the nation.
The final time I went to the ponds for this project it was much busier than every swim previously. Signage around the summer hours had begun, when apart from free-swimming at the very beginning and very end of the day, all pond swims require mandatory booking. On a personal level, after just a few months of swimming, it felt like a shame. A goodbye to rocking up across the heath whenever a participant was going for a swim or I fancied one myself, knowing you'll be able to tap in, tear your clothes off and slip into the water. But - as many participants observed - the summer months the pond is a different place entirely. The experience of pond swimming in the winter may as well be a different space considering its stark contrast to the space in the summer - and the water isn't even that cold anyway.