St Monance paddling pool .

[gowjani]

Can anyone please confirm that St Monance in Fife used to have two paddling pools ? There is still the remains of the one which is filled by the incoming tide , but I am sure there was another one which was alongside it on the grass park leading to the windmill . There was also a playshute which ran down the side of the hill nearby . The pool had about a two foot high wall around it & you could walk around the outside of it to get to the other side . It also had a narrow plank of wood going across it , which was very slippy . In fact my playmate fell in fully clothed & had to travel home on the train soaking wet . Anyone I have asked cannot remember the pool . As this is going back over fifty years , please confirm I am not going senile . Then again I may be already ! Many thanks , Graham .

[hdw]

Hello! I forwarded your query to an old schoolfriend who is a native Simmininser and here is his response.

"I don’t think he’s correct about the two pools. There is the large ‘sea’ pool which he describes which had a planked off area at the east end creating a ‘shallow end’ which was in full view of all the Mums in the seating area. He is correct about the large playside but I think he may be confusing the sandpit nearby with another pond. This large sandpit used to be the site every Saturday morning for the sandcastle competition hosted by Rev Robertson of the Congregational Church. He was quite a sight, sweeping down from Miller Terrace like an angel of God with the banners over his shoulder. It served otherwise as a long jump pit. We would come tearing down the slope and launch ourselves into the pit for a considerable leap with the benefit of a two foot elevation."

Harry

[gowjani]

Thanks Harry for your detailed reply . It just goes to show how the memory plays tricks on you over the years .  Graham .

[sparkley]

Hi Graham,
I still remember the postcards with photos of a very busy poolside. Agree with Harry's friend it was just one big pool but with a wooden plank across the shallow end. The putting green was on the grass area nearby and that's where we also bought bottles of fizzy juice  and crisps. Later they replaced this with trampolines. The metal chute that ran from the caravan site down the brae towards the sea is no longer there. We used to go down it sitting on bread paper to go faster. I also remember the sandcastle competitions which I won once and got a real cotton embroidered handkke as my prize.
Regards
Pauline

[hdw]

Hi Graham,
I still remember the postcards with photos of a very busy poolside. Agree with Harry's friend it was just one big pool but with a wooden plank across the shallow end. The putting green was on the grass area nearby and that's where we also bought bottles of fizzy juice  and crisps. Later they replaced this with trampolines. The metal chute that ran from the caravan site down the brae towards the sea is no longer there. We used to go down it sitting on bread paper to go faster. I also remember the sandcastle competitions which I won once and got a real cotton embroidered handkke as my prize.
Regards
Pauline

I can't speak for St. Monans, but a few miles to the east in Cellardyke, the Cardinal's Steps bathing pool, better known as The Pond, was a great draw in the summer. Surviving photos show an amazing crush of people there and sitting on the grassy Town's Green opposite. There was a proper adult swimming pool with a diving board and a little kiddies' paddling pool. I remember men diving off into the pool and coming up with bleeding chests as there were some nasty sharp rocks. Numbers were swelled (swollen?) in the month of July by Glaswegians taking the Glasgow Fair holiday, and the other towns in the west like Coatbridge and Paisley sent their contingents of "visitors" at different times in the summer in those pre-package tour days. At different times we had "visitors" from Renfrew and Coatbridge staying with us. A walk by the sea, a breath of fresh air and a fish supper seemed to be all the "entertainment" they needed.

Why was our pond called the Cardinal's Steps? Well, we always liked to be one up on the neighbours. Seriously, they say that in the 1540s Cardinal David Beaton, the archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, would step ashore on the nearby rocks from the ferry on his way to visit his nephew John Beaton, the laird of Kilrenny.

The history of the planning and building of that pond is an open book, literally, as our local fisherman-bard "Poetry Peter" Smith wrote a poem about it at the time giving a blow-by-blow account. I think there is still some kind of leisure facility there today.

Harry

[ecksdochter]

Hello gowjani,
     Your post has brought back memories of nearly 60yrs ago. My Grandmother lived at Coal Farm near St Monance. A visit to Granny always included a walk down to the shore, along past the now restored windmill (always wondered what that roofless round tower was as a child) to the outdoor pool at St Monance and back. Lots of rock pools to explore on the way then high tea at Grannys. Sleepy headed drive home, long after our normal bedtime, with the moon racing us all the way, shining on the sea and turning corn fields silver. Lovely memories.
     Sparkley's post also brought back memories. Not of the chute at St Monance but the small playpark (grassy) at my home village. We sat on waxed bread wrappers to polish the chute. We'd have a competition to see who could land furthest away from the end of the chute after whizzing down at speed! Great fun.
               Regards,     Dod.