Nostalgia: We’re always happy to make a splash

That was in 1932 at the opening of the outdoor Port Seton Swimming Pool, when hundreds of people gathered to marvel at the new attraction – as well as at the abilities of the town’s best swimmers.

However, there was less excitement this week surrounding swimming as the controversial closure of Leith’s Waterworld began to sink in for the campaigners who had fought to keep it open.

Adamant that the city council made the wrong decision by deciding to shut the leisure pool to save money, they announced they were to tour other pools across the city to inspect their facilities. Calling themselves the Homeless Itinerant Bathing Society (Edinburgh), their intention is to try to prove there is a need to have Waterworld reopened.

As these pictures show, there were happy times in the city’s swimming scene, especially back in May 1992 when Waterworld officially opened.

Children rushed in their hundreds to the attraction that month, desperate to try its flumes and wave machine.

There were many smiles also back in the 1960s when these youngsters posed for a picture in Portobello’s outdoor pool, which was renowned for its wave machine and heated water courtesy of the next-door power station.

And many a carefree summer was spent back then at the popular coastal attraction.