SHEFFIELD SPARTAN SWIMMERS (1933-1934) film no: 669
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A light hearted amateur documentary, this film tells the story of the Sheffield Spartan Swimmers who swam at Millhouses outdoor pool, located in Sheffield. The swimmers (all men) dive, perform synchronised swimming, and race in the winter snow as well as the summer. Most of the swimmers are named in the intertitles.
Title: ‘Sheffield Spartan Swimmers — Millhouses Pool 1933-4’ ‘Three early worms with an eye for the birds’
The film begins with three men carrying towels, running out of a house across a cobbled street.
Intertitle: ‘Ain’t they tough’ They walk down the street.
Intertitle: ‘Just a little warm-up’ A group of men are playing basketball outside in their swimming costumes.
Intertitle: ‘The perfect pike? Captain Jim Pryor’ A man dives from a diving board into a swimming pool.
Intertitle: ‘And a perfect pie-CAN. His hobby is S-women’ Two men dive in from diving boards of different heights.
Intertitle: ‘T’watters of Babylon’ A man is shown running over to the pool and dipping his foot in.
Intertitle: ‘Flint the mighty at em’ A man dives in, and another man is stood in up to his briefs.
Intertitle: ‘The Jolly Rodger (with an image of a skull)’ A man dives into the pool.
Intertitle: ‘And a leg by H.Marsh’ A man dives into the pool from a handstand from the highest board.
Intertitle: ‘C.Lee – The Kay Don of the Club – (with small model cars running underneath’ A man dives into the pool facing backwards from the second highest board.
Intertitle: ‘H.M.S. Duggan (with a model boat passing underneath’ Another man dives in.
Intertitle: ‘Wooley – the original ‘Lock-Ness’ Monster (with a representation of the monster having a doll’d head)’ A man dives in off the second board.
Intertitle: ‘The Bold Sir guy (with image of a suit of armour)’ And again a man dives in off the second board.
Intertitle: ‘George – The hardy annual’ Another man dives in off the second board.
Intertitle: ‘Banner – The gay young dog (a puppet dog walks underneath)’ A man dives in rolling over.
Intertitle: ‘This is booth in a hurry, what? (with Beecham powder logo)’ A man takes a running dive in over the camera.
Intertitle: ‘What’ter spider — he rules the waves (with an image of a comic duck)’ A man does a somersault dive off a board.
Intertitle: ‘Oh Dear! Sydney always was a backward child’ A man diving in backwards is shown in reverse, and another man jogs towards the pool.
Intertitle: ‘And Hill completes the chain (with an image of a lavatory chain)’
All the men, lined up at the pool edge, dive in turn, swim back and get out. The three men at the beginning are then shown dressed, in a street play acting, and having a mock fight. Back at the pool the men are gathered around a diving board. Two of them are shown diving in and swimming. The others are running around the pool with some people looking on from the outside the pool on a grass bank. There is more of the men diving in and swimming followed by film of a group of men, women and dogs watching at the pool side. The men are again shown jogging around the pool followed by fast walking and headstands. They then reveal their faces, in turn, in a line, from behind their towels. Next the swimmers are spread out doing exercises touching their toes. They do an acrobatic display, and two men have buckets of water poured over them. Next a diver goes off the second board, followed by more from the first board, and then they clamber out. The film shows the swimmers diving, in reverse. Then a man does a comical walk on his hands and feet before diving in.
By a snow-covered poolside, the swimmers have a snowball fight. Two swimmers try to get out of the pool have snow shovelled onto them. One man sits on the snow by the water, and another two swimmers dive off the top board with one of them hanging upside down on the back of the other.
This is followed by film from later in the year, with a line of swimmers diving in one after the other. The Tea Room is in the background, and one swimmer is timed swimming a width of the pool, and then back again. The men perform a series of dives, some of which are in slow motion and in reverse. One swimmer is on his back in the water, and with his arms and legs outstretched, is pulled around in a circle by four other swimmers. Other swimmers do the breaststroke and front crawl.
The film then returns to the snowy pool, with three swimmers larking about on the snow. They swim in a section of the pool where the ice has been cleared. One swimmer brings out a piece of ice and shivers on the side covered in snow.
Back to snow-free wintertime, the swimmers pose in the pool next to a cake, after just finishing a race. The winner receives a small cup and is watched by a group of women.
End title: ‘And that’s that’
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This film was made by Sheffield grocer George Surgey. Surgey made a number of 16mm family films in Sheffield during the 1930s. He had a strong sense of humour that shows in his films, not least in Sheffield Spartan Swimmers. His son Keith, who can be seen very young in the films, has written an unpublished account of his father’s life over 20 years retelling many humorous anecdotes relating to his father. Joy Batham, whose father Bert is on the film - play acting at the beginning, and pretending to shi
This film was made by Sheffield grocer George Surgey. Surgey made a number of 16mm family films in Sheffield during the 1930s. He had a strong sense of humour that shows in his films, not least in Sheffield Spartan Swimmers. His son Keith, who can be seen very young in the films, has written an unpublished account of his father’s life over 20 years retelling many humorous anecdotes relating to his father. Joy Batham, whose father Bert is on the film - play acting at the beginning, and pretending to shiver near the end - has collected numerous newspaper cuttings featuring the Spartan Swimmers, copies of which the YFA now holds.
It might be that Surgey came from a family that originally came from Russia, his great great grandfather anglicizing his name Sergei to Thomas Surgey, and who was known as "Russian Tom" by his mates at work. However, Thomas Surgey was born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, and his father died when he was just two, in 1851; and at age 12 he ended up in a Horncastle workhouse. After working as a sailor on ships in the Baltic Sea he eventually settled in Sheffield.
Whether this is the family history or not, Surgey himself thought that he was descended from a titled family, hence the appellation ‘The Bold Sir guy’, in the film. His grocery shop at Woodseats can be seen in the film, and he and his friends for several years used to get up every morning of the year at 7.15 to walk the 2 miles down to Millhouses Pool.
The idea of ‘Spartan’ swimming clubs goes back some time, and similar ones existed elsewhere; some of which are still going, such as the one at Brighton. The word ‘Spartan’ is taken from the ancient Greek state of Sparta, which, partly due to a need for land because of its own its poor soil, developed a strong militaristic state. The word can be applied either to a situation or to character traits that the Spartans developed: hence the connotations include discipline, simplicity, hardiness and self-denial. In the film the swimmers certainly exhibit hardiness – or foolhardiness! As can be seen from the film, the group often played practical jokes on each other.
One regular swimmer in the pool, whose father was a ‘Spartan’, recalls that to qualify as a member one had to swim every morning of the year; and that, ‘for many years the Telegraph and Star used to publish photos of the ice being broken for the Spartan dip.’ But another user of Sheffield Forum has a post which states: ‘we both became "Spartans" after swimming every Sunday morning throughout the winter and Christmas Day and broke the ice on several occasions. I remember the admission was 9d., but if you were a "Spartan" you got in free.’ It isn’t known exactly when the Spartan club ceased its activities, but it continued into the 1950s when there used to be a bandstand outside the pool entrance. After the Second World War the large pool was divided into two and re-named ‘the lido’. Some of the film is at Langley Park.
Like so many others, the lido at Millhouses closed in 1989 due to high running costs, although the park is still there. The original pool had changing rooms, as seen in the film, with floors paved with gravestones from St Mary’s Church (at the time there was a shortage of building materials). The tea room that can be seen in the film was at the back of Millhouses Pub. According to a post on the online Sheffield Forum, ‘Millhouses swimming pool had the coldest water in the world outside Alaska, as well as the highest diving board’. The site of the lido is now a grass field with a children’s adventure playground and a skate board area. Posts on the Sheffield Forum testify to how extremely popular it was right through the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The boating lake and café are still there. Other contributors to the Sheffield Forum remember the lines of ice cream vans (Granelli and Manfredie) that formed outside the park – presumably not when it was snowing though!
Next to the lido were paddling pools that on one occasion became flooded with contaminated water and had to be closed because of the dangers of infection. There is some dispute as to exactly what was contaminated and where from. One version has it that it came form the nearby River Sheaf; another has it that a "red" liquid, natural iron ore in the ground (although possibly containing lead), seeped into it from land drainage coming from under the railway tracks, but starting from a spring that flows down through Hutcliffe woods.
Another contributor to the Sheffield Forum – whose father was the superintendant at Millhouses for many years – maintains that: ‘The baths were originally just one pool . . about three times larger than an Olympic sized pool. The water for the pool was continuously bled in from the river, through filter beds and a chlorination system, so yes it was cold, but it was the only pool where you could not detect the chlorine in the water, it was like swimming in a mountain lake.’ He also states that: ‘There was a scare during the polio epidemic in Sheffield – probably in the late 1940's – it was rumoured that the pool used raw water and was threatened with closure. I remember the water was tested by the "Officials" and it was found to be spot on so the pool remained open.’ However, apparently there was a sad case of a death in the old swimming pool and the body wasn't found for several days because the water was so murky.
As with many leisure activities, swimming started as an activity in its own right in the seventeenth century at British seaside resorts, where it was linked to water therapy. Lidos originally derive from the town of that name at the northern end of Venice, and which has for a long time been a fashionable resort. From there the name started to be used in the 19th century for many fashionable beach resorts, or outside public swimming pools, across Europe. Before the advent of holidays abroad, lidos were extremely popular: in the 1930s 169 were built across Britain. Many of these were beautiful art deco buildings.
Most of these have now closed: outdoor swimming pools have never had proper public funding. However, there are a significant number of pools still open, and attitudes are beginning to change, thanks to campaigners like the London Pools Campaign. The Twentieth Century Society ran a campaign to save lidos and in particular to get Scarborough lido, South Bay Pool closed in 1989, as a listed site. The YFA has a lot of film of this in its heyday. But this has now been filled in, and the promised redevelopment has not materialised at the time of writing (March 2009).
The great social value of open-air swimming pools in bringing people together is beginning to be recognised, and many are starting to reopen, some with roofs to allow for winter use. As Sir Josiah Stamp said at the opening of the Morecambe Super Swimming Stadium in 1936: "When we get down to swimming, we get down to democracy." Only in this case it is the Spartans, the enemies of democrat Athens, that show the way.
(With special thanks to Michael Hardy)
References
Thomas van Leeuwen, The Springboard on the Pond: An Intimate History of The Swimming Pool, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1999. This is written in relation to the US experience of swimming and swimming pools, but goes well beyond this.
Janet Smith, Liquid Assets: the lidos and open air swimming pools of Britain, English Heritage, London, 2005.
Posts on Sheffield Forum One and Two
This has a wealth of information and links to other sources, including a list other films featuring lidos.
The Twentieth Century Society campaign to save lidos
This also has an interesting historical overview of lidos.
Information on lidos, past and present: Lidos and Outdoor swimming pools in the UK
Nice photos of old lidos at Lost Lidos, but at the time of writing (October 2009) none on Sheffield
Duration:
15 mins 59 secs |
 16mm |
 Silent |
 Black & White |
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6 Comments
The film was a revelation also for all the grandchildren, some of whom were born after he died. He never mentioned a film being made although I recall from my early childhood (50 or more years ago) that he would often talk about the Spartans. I recall him talking about some of the others in the film too. The reference to Pie-can is, I think a reference to a guy called Alma Pye, who I think had some civic role and was often around our house. Harold Marsh ( Leg show clip) was another. I think Harold and my dad were in the ARP together during WW2.
At the time of the film I think he lived at 34 Oak Hill Road in Nether Edge, so he wouldn't have had too far to walk to Millhouses Park. Sheffielders of course, will know that it is Millhouses, not Millhouse as is suggested in the text accompanying the film.
My Dad was a member of the Spartans and features in the film clip as "Jolly Rodge" (aka Eric Rodge).
In my childhood he would tell us stories of diving through a hole in the ice and swimming under the ice surface to break through it somewhere at the far end of the pool. Of course, we only half believed these stories of bravado and half dismissed them. I have photographs of him and the rest of the Spartans standing at the edge of Millhouses Pool, so I do know that he was a member. I had no idea that the film existed. Seeing the film today was a revelation - he had hair! I never, ever saw my father with any hair.
I recall him talking about some of the others in the film too - some of them remained lifelong friends. At the time of the film I think he lived at 34 Oak Hill Road in Nether Edge, so he wouldn't have had too far to walk to Millhouses Park. Sheffielders of course, will know that it is Millhouses, not Millhouse as is suggested in the text accompanying the film.
Wonderful to see it. As far as I know there is no other moving image of my Dad.
Many memories have been stirred by the old Sheffield Spartan Swimmers being seen on TV, and then seeing the archive film. My father, Bert Batham, was a keen Spartan for many years. He was born in Quarry Bank, in the Black Country, in 1896, and moved to sheffield in 1927 when I was two and a half years old. He swam at Millhouses most mornings before work, and had close friends in the Spartans. I have photos and newspaper cuttings he collected. Watching the film, I've been able to name six: Jim Pryor, Colin Lee, Harold Marsh, Harold Monks, Charlie Scothern (manager of the pool) and George Surgey, the grocer who shot the film. I particularly like the shots of my father coming out of the pool holding a big chunk of ice, and than standing pretending to shiver; also the 'street hooligans' playing around on the street on the way to the pool. With Dad were Colin and George; we all lived near each other in Woodseats.
They were real toughies, and dedicated to keeping fit and healthy, though my mother said that Dad's arthritis in later life was caused by all that cold water! Not only did they swim all the year round but, as seen in the film, broke the ice to swim when the pool was frozen. My father once made two holes, one to go in and one to come out, but almost drowned when he couldn
I have in my possession about 20 photographs taken at Millhouses.Some are on the Picture Sheffield website as I took them to the library.My father worked there 1933, left to go in the Air Force then returned after the war. I think he was also in the Spartans club at some point. My father was Mr. Bernard Revitt he can be seen handing a swimmer a hot water bottle. My brother would be able to put namesto some of the Club members but he will not be in England for about 2 months.We will contact you when he returns. Thank you very much for making the film available online. Best regards Maureen
My father George D Hardy was born in 1912 so would have been about 21-22 years when the film was shot in 1933-34 - many, but not all, of the other swimmers in the film appear quite a bit older than that.
In the short shots at the beginning, which I presume is a play on their names, - My father is "George - The Hardy Annual", and he was an ASA Champion diver.
In the film my father seems to be wearing a slightly lighter shaded swimsuit for most of the film although he does wear a darker one towards the end. He is in the 1st group-scene where they are playing "basketball" in swimsuits. He is the 3rd from the right end in the scene were the men are covering their faces with towels. He is also 1st on the left in the group of 6 men & a small boy, standing in swimming costumes just before the scenes of Ice breaking etc. Again he is just to the left of the man holding the trophy at the "presentation" towards the end.
I understand the Millhouses swimming pool was built in the 1920's & I remember as small boy going there several times in the 50's, as they used to have Gala swimming days there, my father used to take part in these events. I clearly remember the large wooden diving board structure shown in the film, & men dressed in "fancy dress" fooling about, falling in the water & even running off the top diving board in this fancy dress all linked together or standing on each others shoulders - Health & Safety hadn't been invented then!!!!
Millhouses Swimming baths should not be confused with the Millhouses "Lido" which I believe was built on the same site in the 1960's after we left the area & had fountains etc in the middle. It was demolished some years ago & is now a grassy area & car park - Progress eh?
My father trained as a teacher of Physical Training (PT as it was called then) for Sheffield Education Dept. & later became the Manager of Woodthorpe Swimming baths in Sheffield, which was used solely for the use of Sheffield Schools for swimming & diving etc. It was there he met & my mother, who was a school teacher & was taking a class of children swimming, they married in November 1941.During the war he was in the RAF - again as a PT Instructor.
The photo was taken in Belgium towards the end of WW2 showing my father in the centre in the white T shirt with a group of other RAF swimmers.
I remember the lido in Millhouses Park when I first moved to Sheffield in 1986. It closed within five years or so of that date as it needed expensive repairs. It was derelict for a while but was then pulled down and an adventure playground now stands on the site.
I cannot identify the streets that the men walk through, they are not any of the streets leading off Abbeydale Road South by the Park as these all have quite steep slopes. I showed the film to a friend and we are not sure that all the sequences were filmed in the Millhouses lido. In one part of the film there is a hillside behind the pool (a group of people are standing watching) and no diving boards, someone may have an idea where this other pool could be, my guess would be Graves Park.
What I find most endearing about the film is that people knew how to enjoy themselves then, they could lark about in the street and in a pool without it being construed in the wrong way, frowned upon or constrained by rules and regulations as it would most likely be today.
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