One hundred lengths, one name
Since 1952, any swimmer who completes a hundred lengths of the Meridian in a single session has their name written on the board by the west steps. The custom outlived the paint.
How it works
- Ask the deck steward for a brass counter before you start. Honesty is the whole system.
- One hundred lengths, one session, any pace. No snorkels; the manual is explicit.
- Wren writes your name on the board that evening, in the house's chalk-first, paint-second order.
- Centenary-tier members get the name engraved on a house mug. Everyone else gets the board and the bragging rights.
Recent names
Four names joined in September alone, a house record: M. Okafor, T. Brannigan, June Ferro (a steward; legal, controversial), and E. Whitmore, aged eighty-one, who swam the hundred in the midday session and then took the plunge, which is not required and remains the most talked-about afternoon of the year.
The board holds room for four more names before the winter repaint. Wren says there will be room; the house says nothing, the house simply heats the pool.
Claim a line on the board
The dawn session gives you three quiet hours, which is roughly two hundred lengths if you are serious.
The Pools
Cascade, Meridian, Mosaic, Plunge, Resting. In that order.
41 °CThe Water
One spring, honestly described, never sweetened.
Since 1926History
Ottilie Marsh, the ward years, the slow clock.
8 ritualsTreatments
Hands, heat, salt and birch, priced plainly.
ArchiveThe Journal
Longer notes from the stairwell cabinet.
VisitPlan a Visit
Trains, towpaths, punts and what to bring.