Decades before  Sylvia Grice MBE started teaching generations of Ripon children how to swim in the city’s Spa Baths, the lessons were more rudimentary.

Among the overgrown trees, grass and plants that crowd a bank-side section of the Ure, retired postman  John Heselton, has uncovered a rusty riverside relic.

The mystery object serves as a reminder of childhood experiences in Victorian and Edwardian times that would be frowned upon in today’s more safety-conscious society.

He pointed out:

“I discovered from a couple of people in their 90s, who were among Ripon’s first ‘wild’ swimmers, that their introduction to the waters of the Ure was literally a case of sink or swim.”

With the Skell, Laver and a canal adding to Ripon’s network of natural and man-made waterways, there has always been a need to teach children and adults a skill that could one day save their life or the lives of others.

John Heselton, with a black and white photograph of the pavilion, is pictured next to the pulley that was used as a safety device.

But pre-1936, when Ripon’s first public baths were opened, how did people learn their first strokes?

Mr Heselton, pointed out:

“For novice swimmers, a rope was wrapped around their waists before they took the plunge.

“If they showed any signs of getting into difficulties, the pulley that the rope was attached to, was wound back in by the adults on the bank who arranged and supervised the regular learn to swim and swimming sessions.”

He added:

“When I was a boy I learnt to swim, like thousands of other Ripon children, at Spa Baths, but it’s remarkable to think that generations before I was born, my ancestors are very likely to have been among those taught in this more basic way.”

Though the teaching method was basic, the same does not apply to the swimming pavilion itself, which was a grand purpose-built facility, as Mr Heselton discovered.

A detail in a wall (pictured below) first indicated to him that it was more than a boundary to a riverside residence.

He said:

“I have  past this structure on hundreds of occasions over half a century – first as a keen club runner and more recently while out walking my dog Ruby –  but it is only in the last couple of years that I realised it is a surviving remnant of a historically-significant facility.

“After rooting through the undergrowth, I saw that at ground level the wall includes a salt-glazed course of bricks, not there to let air in, but to drain water out, when the swimmers got out of the river to change back into their clothes.”

Like all good detectives, Mr Heselton looked for further evidence on the other side of the wall and the pulley system provided another vital clue about the previous use of this area, where the Ure broadens out to form a natural lido.

The ‘sink or swim’ childhood experience was confirmed by local people he had come to know during the 20 years that he served as a postman in Ripon.

Now, the missing pieces of the jigsaw have been put into place in a fascinating compilation of facts and photographs that the history and nature lover has painstakingly assembled.

Read more:

• Ripon’s Spa Baths to be returned to its former glory
• Dean calls for council’s support for Ripon Cathedral development plan

Residents in Harrogate have expressed concern about the confusing advice in the government’s changes to lockdown rules, after reports of rising numbers of people and cars on the streets.

Harrogate resident Paul Dutton said he worried that people who were already feeling more relaxed about restrictions would be encouraged to go even further in disregarding social distancing.

“I could see in the last week the roads were getting busier, there were more people out and about. We’ve been told not to go out unless we needed to. This will open the gates even further.

“I think people will push the boundaries, go to the coast, visit the sites of Yorkshire, take picnics and barbecues, walking through the fields. We just need to stay how we are.”

With his wife working as a GP in Leeds and his youngest son home from university, Mr Dutton said the family has been living as separately as possible within the house in order to reduce the risk of contamination. If people begin mixing again, he fears the family’s hard work to stay safe will be undone by another spike in cases which could bring it into their home through his wife’s work, no matter how careful they are.

Need for childcare

As a former Harrogate Grammar School teacher, he said he feels sorry for schools trying to find ways to meet the need for childcare if parents are pressured into returning to work. Suggestions of smaller class sizes would help with social distancing, but would be impractical for schools to implement, he said.

“If you are going to invite six or seven students back, which are they going to be? Are you going to rotate it? Are schools able to staff it in that way? It’s a huge conundrum. how do you resolve that? I really wouldn’t want to be in that situation now. I just feel if we waited another couple of weeks to see how the situation panned out, we could phase it in a different way.”

Social distancing will be almost impossible in schools, according to former teacher Paul Dutton

His concerns were echoed by Andy Johnson, a health and safety advisor mainly working on film and television projects, who said he has only had one job since the lockdown began. Not expecting his work to re-start properly until at least September, he is now offering his services to businesses which are looking at ways to re-open safely. However, as a widowed father with a teenage son at home in Harrogate, he is nervous about the risks of going into workplaces:

“It would depend on each individual case. If I was asked to go into a closed factory and do a risk assessment prior to it re-opening, as long as I could maintain social distancing, wear barriers, do my job and get out, I would be reasonably happy to do that. But not while people are working there.”

Mr Johnson said the “viral load” was a critical factor. People who come into contact with several people who have the virus on more than one occasion seem to become more seriously ill, he said, which meant opening workplaces and encouraging more travel could lead to a rise in the number of severe cases and deaths.

Lack of PPE

As a community first responder, he works alongside some paramedics and emergency medical technicians who also volunteer in their spare time. He said two of them are now suffering with coronavirus symptoms, including one admitted to hospital:

“They had what they thought was adequate protection. They think they’re safe, but they haven’t been safe. How can you ensure in a workplace that it’s safe? Chances are, you can’t. All you can do is what’s reasonable in the circumstances.”

However, with PPE in high demand, he questioned whether people going out to work would be able to find adequate protection for themselves, and whether workplaces could provide it for employees.