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John Irvine remembers the Killinchy School pool
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TitleJohn Irvine remembers the Killinchy School pool 
Description"I can remember my first swim in the Killinchy pool. It was in the foot bath because I was then too small to be able to hack the pace in the ‘big’ pool.
The water in the foot bath used to get quite warm from the sun heating up the shallow depth.
Once I was big enough I was able to take on the big pool which was still over my head but once I got my confidence up there was no looking back.
There were many enjoyable hours spent cooling off in the water & sun bathing on the concrete surrounding the pool or if the concrete was too hot we would sunbathe on a wooden bench seat which was situated on some grass at the deep of the pool.
It was always a bit of a lottery as to how the water temperature was because if it was freshly filled with that good Killinchy ground water it would be freezing for a few days before the coolness had dissipated from the water.
Or sometimes you might turn up for a swim & find the water a bit green with algae build-up but we didn’t care & jumped into the water regardless.
Often I would find myself sharing the water with floating dead bees, pine needles from the nearby pine trees, thistle & dandelion flowers & miscellaneous debris deposited by the Canterbury winds.
I remember the McDrury girls who lived in the school house next to the pool used to swim so much in the pool that their hair turned a bluey green like the colour of bailing twine.
At that time I don’t think many chemicals were used in the water so maybe it was the algae build-up that caused their hair to change colour.
I remember attending various working bees where the locals would turn up to help prepare & repaint the interior of the pool.
In the spring before the use of chemicals to control the algae build-up, it was always an all hands on deck working bee to drain the bottle green water from the pool followed by a big scrubbing session to remove the green tide marks & algae stains from the blue walls and bottom of the pool interior.
A major upgrade was undertaken in 1995.
It used to be great fun to hold on to the one of the pipe railings running along each side of the pool as an anchor then thrust your body back and forth to create the biggest waves possible which when big enough would breach the pool interior walls & splash over the sides straight onto the backs of dozing sun bathers laying on the concrete which gave them a panicked rude awakening.
For the people who were observers on the outside of the pool, they always had to watch where they were positioned because of the limited area between the pool walls & the boundary fence, it was pretty easy to get splashed by the swimmers especially if someone did a running honey pot, launched from the top of the pool walls.
I haven’t been to the pool or swum in it for many years but I am sure the Killinchy kids of today still get plenty of use and enjoyment from it like I did and no doubt the honey pots and aqua shenanigans still go on like they always did, all in the name of harmless good clean fun."
Ellesmere Historical Society
Date16 September 2021SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationKillinchy
Description"I can remember my first swim in the Killinchy pool. It was in the foot bath because I was then too small to be able to hack the pace in the ‘big’ pool. The water in the foot bath used to get quite warm from the sun heating up the shallow depth.
Once I was big enough I was able to take on the big pool which was still over my head but once I got my confidence up there was no looking back.
There were many enjoyable hours spent cooling off in the water & sun bathing on the concrete surrounding the pool or if the concrete was too hot we would sunbathe on a wooden bench seat which was situated on some grass at the deep of the pool.
It was always a bit of a lottery as to how the water temperature was because if it was freshly filled with that good Killinchy ground water it would be freezing for a few days before the coolness had dissipated from the water.
Or sometimes you might turn up for a swim & find the water a bit green with algae build-up but we didn’t care & jumped into the water regardless.
Often I would find myself sharing the water with floating dead bees, pine needles from the nearby pine trees, thistle & dandelion flowers & miscellaneous debris deposited by the Canterbury winds.
I remember the McDrury girls who lived in the school house next to the pool used to swim so much in the pool that their hair turned a bluey green like the colour of bailing twine.
At that time I don’t think many chemicals were used in the water so maybe it was the algae build-up that caused their hair to change colour.
I remember attending various working bees where the locals would turn up to help prepare & repaint the interior of the pool.
In the spring before the use of chemicals to control the algae build-up, it was always an all hands on deck working bee to drain the bottle green water from the pool followed by a big scrubbing session to remove the green tide marks & algae stains from the blue walls and bottom of the pool interior.
A major upgrade was undertaken in 1995.
It used to be great fun to hold on to the one of the pipe railings running along each side of the pool as an anchor then thrust your body back and forth to create the biggest waves possible which when big enough would breach the pool interior walls & splash over the sides straight onto the backs of dozing sun bathers laying on the concrete which gave them a panicked rude awakening.
For the people who were observers on the outside of the pool, they always had to watch where they were positioned because of the limited area between the pool walls & the boundary fence, it was pretty easy to get splashed by the swimmers especially if someone did a running honey pot, launched from the top of the pool walls.
I haven’t been to the pool or swum in it for many years but I am sure the Killinchy kids of today still get plenty of use and enjoyment from it like I did and no doubt the honey pots and aqua shenanigans still go on like they always did, all in the name of harmless good clean fun."
Ellesmere Historical Society
Date16 September 2021SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationKillinchyClick on the image to add
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John Irvine remembers the Killinchy School pool (16 September 2021). Selwyn Stories, accessed 29/05/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5343