Heath ponds: ‘It takes labour and resources to preserve this extraordinary slice of nature’

• I FAIL to understand how an online booking system introduced as a means of opening the ponds and managing the real and ongoing risks and hazards of a global epidemic amounts to an indication that the “City of London seem to think that they own the Heath and the ponds”, (Pond swimming should remain free, August 6).

From the trial sessions before the government’s green-light to reopen, the corporation put in place procedures to safely and gradually increase the number of sessions and places available. Trials involved a wide range of users, and the key was to be inclusive.

To offer all of this to the public, each day, seven days a week, means that staff on the ground (on zero-hour contracts) are pushed to the limit each session, of each day: not only do they implement the track-and-trace policy by monitoring each swimmer at each session but they must also clean and disinfect all areas between sessions.

It is non-stop. And that is without considering the normal life-guarding and supporting responsibilities they fulfil.

It is not the corporation’s fault if somebody who books a ticket then does not show up to their session. I am sorry that the writer can’t afford the concessionary rate to swim regularly because to me that is a form of torture.

Many of us have similar pecuniary constraints, and budget swimming as an essential. I bring a Thermos and walk there and back in order to keep within my own budget.

In common, we all need to swim. But it is the sad truth that across all areas of our lives, even the “essentials” tax our strained financial and mental economies.

But despite these economic hardships, the ponds cannot be inclusive and also operate without charge. It takes labour and resources to preserve this extraordinary slice of nature in the midst of this busy city – global pandemic or not.

And it is misleading to assert that the 1871 Freedom of Access to the Heath Act simply entitled us to swim without charge: in 1871 it was “normal” to systematically exclude people from these élite privileges – people were not all free, if the ponds were. A black woman (like me) would not have been welcomed to swim in the Heath ponds.

The management of the ponds must and does take this into account in its stewardship.

VALLI MELCHIOR
Address supplied