Re-living the good life of the 50's and 60's

Hey Bob,the article in Wed. blog re swimming areas in Mtl brought back some memories from long ago. I can remember going to Cap St Jacques or Fort Chambly with one of the various church picnics that the protestant churches in GFPK used to sponsor,usually in June before the summer vacation period. St Helens Island was a favourite site as well and it had two swim sites, the regular pools and the Montreal swimming Club which was in the river itself The pools were open to the public and charged a small fee  but the MSC charged a  for a full summer pass. We also, with a bit of subterfuge ,could get onto the St. Lambert swimming club  site which was a full concrete pad with change huts, right on the St Lawrence with boomed off sections a diving raft lifeguards etc maintained by the City of St Lambert. Essentially it was open only to residents of St Lambert but with some astute timing we kids from "The Park" could sneak onto the site and quickly change and get into the water where the lifeguards couldn't check to see if we had the CSA badge sewn on our swimsuits. A more accessible site was a pool in Charles creek at the far edge of Joe Marcotte's farm. And finally if one were caddying at The Country Club of Montreal there was always the St Lawrence River ,which was just across the highway from the clubhouse,before the Seaway was constructed. Once the first round of golfers had selected their caddies each day there was a lull of about 3 hrs before the next flight of golfers were set to tee off and so we caddies would slip across the road,down the river bank and onto the shale beach and into the water which also had a smooth slate bottom. The only caution we had was the occasional piece of of human waste which had been released into the river upstream. A minor concern for the benefits to be derived on a hot July/August day. If we were so inclined we could also cycle down to the Boulevard Hotel in Laprairie and access their pool for a dime. Finally most of us kids in the Third Street Gang had our personal pool which was the Perras Quarry just NW of Third Street itself. Ah the good old days. JMcC

 

Thanks John.... Great to have you on the green side of life and contributing to the blog once more.