Sandford Parks Lido Christmas Swim cancelled

News – The 2010 Christmas Swim at Sandford Parks Lido in Cheltenham has sadly been cancelled due to poor weather conditions, organisers have announced.

Gloucestershire’s famous, albeit downright crazy, annual Christmas Swim event which was due to take place at Sandford Parks Lido in Cheltenham on Saturday 25 December 2010 has been cancelled, organisers announced today.

While fans of the tradition – which sees brave swimmers take the plunge in icy cold temperatures for a width or two of the lido’s pool – will no doubt be disappointed, organisers have pointed out that this is the first time the event has been cancelled in 40 years.

The news came as Gloucestershire continues to suffer from some of the worst weather conditions experienced in 100 years.

‘As guardians of this historic lido we have to protect its 75 year old engineering. The pool water is frozen hard level with our heritage scum channels, and we fear that attempting to smash our way through the extremely thick ice will impact on the channels and potentially cause harm. They were part of our refurbishment in 2006 and they alone cost £20,000’, said a Lido spokesperson.

‘We have been holding off making this decision and had prepared the pool earlier in December, cleaning the water ready for the big day and had made contingency plans to allow those hardy swimmers to dip into the water. But the current weather forecast for the rest of the week remains bitterly cold.’

Fingers crossed for better weather on Christmas Day 2011, and don’t miss SoGlos.com’s video of the 2009 spectacular:

SoGlos.com
22 December 2010