• THERE is a supreme irony for me regarding Hampstead Heath ponds charges: I was a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra for 30 years, during which time we all dreamed of one day having a first-class concert hall.

OK you may be thinking the Barbican is not all that bad, but then you go on tour to Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Tokyo, or even to Cardiff, Birmingham or Manchester, where the orchestra can really spread its wings and be heard in all its magnificence.

It is a major scandal that London, while having world-class orchestras, lags behind the rest of the world in not having a world-class concert hall.

LSO members have to retire at 65 (without a pension) so for the past 10 years my daily swim at the Men’s Pond has been one of the three main props in my retirement for my general wellbeing and some social life (the other two being volunteering at Kenwood and amateur music-making).

Now the City of London want to kick away this prop by imposing charges for swimming, to pay help pay for a new concert hall. This hall, which should have been built 30 years ago, they’re asking to be partly funded out of my state pension!

Well they can count me out. I shall jog on.

I have jogged around many cities on my travels and can vouch that London is the best city in the world for parks and open spaces, and the Heath ponds are the jewel in the crown, completely special and unique.

Now they want to spoil it all. The board’s “extensive consultations” did not reach as far as me.

I could have given them a good hour or two of stories about the interesting people I have met up at the ponds who have immeasurably enhanced my life.

Like the man I was talking to about my hobby on tour of visiting as many art galleries as I could, with this marvellous little book called Art Galleries of the World as my constant companion.

“Glad you like it,” he said, “I wrote it.” Pure “Men’s Pond”!

Oh, and I’ll wager now, £2.40 to a penny, that that hall will not be built in my lifetime…

STEPHEN ROWLINSON
Countess Road, NW5