Manly chests banned!

Jul 30 2008 Staines News

EDWARDIAN prudishness demanded that men wore one-piece bathing outfits when swimming so that manly bare chests did not offend.

When this photo was taken in about 1903 the members of Staines Swimming Club were certainly complying.

They pose proudly outside their headquarters on Church Island, just upstream from Staines Bridge, in days when swimming in the Thames was actively encouraged.

The club was enormously popular with its own private section of the riverbank.

Plenty of water has flowed under the bridge since then, but the club still survives and prospers, with its own pool at Matthew Arnold School.

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