The lido in Troedyrhiw, in Merthyr Tydfil, was built on the hillside by unemployed miners in 1934.
According to the Merthyr Express in 1964, life was hard for people at the time when it was built.
“The year 1934 was not a prosperous one for the people of South Wales,” it said.
“There were many unemployed in the area. But this helped the venture. Mr Murray Threipland provided all the materials necessary and the men of the village wielded picks and shovels voluntarily.”
The freshwater lido was fed by water collected by damns built out of rock and turf from the mountainside, which formed a natural spring.
Unfortunately it became disused by the mid-1960s. The Express article ended on a hopeful note, saying: “Perhaps some time in the future another dedicated group of men will set about to repair the pool. And once again, the mountainside will ring with the voices of children splashing in the crystal water.”
