Before Basildon Sporting Village existed, generations of local residents learned to swim at Gloucester Park Swimming Pool. The old pool stood near Broadmayne at the southern end of Gloucester Park and was Basildon's main public swimming facility for more than four decades.
The pool opened on 9 April 1968. Its main pool was 33⅓ metres long and had a depth of up to 12½ feet. It was designed as a championship-size facility and originally included three diving boards.
A separate teaching pool was provided alongside the main pool, making the centre suitable both for experienced swimmers and people learning to swim. There was also a spectator gallery and a first-floor café, while public toilets serving Gloucester Park were incorporated into the building.
The official opening ceremony took place in June 1968. By that point, more than 100,000 visits had already been recorded, demonstrating how quickly the new pool became part of everyday life in Basildon.
The pool became home to local swimming clubs and hosted galas, lessons and competitive swimming. Basildon Swimming Club, founded in 1963, moved its regular activities to Gloucester Park after the pool opened. Basildon and Phoenix swimming organisations later became closely associated with the centre.
The building was used for more than swimming. Over its lifetime it included facilities and activities such as a crèche, sauna, solarium and sun beds. In later years the original upstairs café moved downstairs and the first-floor area became home to the Pulse Fitness Centre.
The diving facilities were one of the memorable features of the original pool. The building opened with three boards, although the diving provision was gradually reduced and eventually removed. This meant that by its later years the pool no longer offered the diving facilities that had been part of its original 1968 design.
By the 2000s Basildon Council was planning a major reorganisation of its leisure facilities. Rather than simply rebuilding Gloucester Park Swimming Pool on the same site, the council pursued a larger sporting hub at the northern end of the park.
The Essex sports-facilities strategy described the proposal as a rationalisation of existing provision. The plan involved closing the old Gloucester Park pool, Markhams Chase Leisure Centre and the existing South Essex Gymnastics facility and replacing their functions with the new Sporting Village.
The new complex offered facilities the old pool could not provide on the same scale: a 50 metre competition pool, large sports hall, modern fitness centre, specialist gymnastics centre, athletics stadium and extensive outdoor sporting provision.
The £38 million Sporting Village was funded mainly by Basildon Council. Part of the wider funding strategy involved selling council-owned sites for redevelopment. Land at Markhams Chase and Cranes Farm Road was sold to Bellway Homes, while land around the former Gloucester Park pool was later used for residential development.
This aspect of the project generated debate because building one major new sporting centre involved the closure and disposal of several existing facilities. The council's approach was to concentrate investment in a modern central complex rather than continue operating the older separate sites.
Gloucester Park Swimming Pool finally closed on Sunday 24 April 2011. Its replacement was already virtually complete at the opposite end of the park.
Only six days later, on Saturday 30 April, Basildon Sporting Village opened to the public. This meant there was a direct transition from the old swimming centre to the new 50 metre pool rather than a lengthy period in which Basildon had no principal public swimming facility.
Once the Sporting Village had replaced the old pool's main sporting role, the Gloucester Park building was no longer required under the council's redevelopment plans. The pool stood empty and boarded for a short period after closure.
Demolition took place during September and October 2011. The nearby former Play Centre facility was also removed as the southern part of Gloucester Park was prepared for residential redevelopment.
So the old pool was not demolished because Basildon was abandoning public swimming. It was demolished after swimming provision had been transferred to the substantially larger Sporting Village and because the old site formed part of the council's wider land and funding strategy.
The former swimming-pool site and surrounding land were redeveloped for housing by Barratt Homes. The development became part of the new residential area on the edge of Gloucester Park, including land associated with the former boating lake and other facilities.
A commemorative plaque was later placed at or close to the position of the old swimming-pool building, acknowledging what had previously stood there.
The Sporting Village project and associated redevelopment altered more than the swimming pool. The old athletics building and grandstand at the northern end of Gloucester Park were removed, the Murryfield pavilion was demolished and the former cycle-speedway track was taken up. The speedway area subsequently became overflow parking.
The park's bowls facilities were also reorganised. New bowling greens and a pavilion opened in 2013 near the Sporting Village after the previous facilities were affected by residential redevelopment elsewhere in Gloucester Park.
The old Gloucester Park pool and the Sporting Village represent two different periods in Basildon's history. The 1968 pool was built when the New Town was rapidly expanding and required new civic and recreational facilities for its growing population. For more than forty years it served that purpose.
The Sporting Village reflected a different approach: rather than a building principally devoted to swimming, Basildon created a regional multi-sport complex bringing many activities together. Its 50 metre pool continued the swimming tradition established at Gloucester Park while adding gymnastics, athletics, climbing, fitness and numerous indoor and outdoor sports.
Although the demolition of the old pool changed a familiar part of Gloucester Park, swimming remained in the park itself. The replacement Sporting Village opened less than a week after the old pool closed and has continued to serve Basildon since 2011.