How a tranquil oasis for female swimmers became a front line in the culture wars
And tomorrow sees a showdown in the years-long conflict between those who want to let trans women in the changing rooms — and those who don’t
EVEr since moving to London over 20 years ago, Venice Allan has carved out time to visit a place that brings her great pleasure. It means a trek across the city on the Tube from her home in South London — but such is the magical pull of Kenwood Ladies’ Pond, a natural swimming lake on Hampstead Heath, that she goes as often as she can.
‘It’s the most special place,’ says the 48-year- old jewellery designer. ‘It feels like an oasis.’
Many hundreds of others feel the same, including celebrities Helena Bonham carter and Emma Thompson, who live in and around this fashionable — and achingly liberal — area of London.
It is a unique space. Designated women-only in 1926, for nearly a century it has been billed as a place of refuge for women of all ages. This is underlined by the sign at the entrance which states that men — who can use a male- only pond, and a mixed pond nearby — can not go ‘beyond this point’.
you might think that message could not be clearer — except of course that the definition of ‘woman’ has become a vexatious, highly contentious issue.
So perhaps it was only a matter of time before it reached the once-tranquil Ladies’ Pond, which is now mired in an increasingly ugly, row.
On one side are 11 of the 12- strong committee members of the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association (KLPA) — backed by a sizeable number of other regular swimmers — who have declared that anyone who identifies as a woman has a right to swim there and that to suggest otherwise is a breach of the 2010 Equality Act.
On the other is a sizeable band who say the committee has become politicised, ‘captured’ by gender ideology, and is trying to strong-arm those who do not hold their views.
The row is set to come to a head tomorrow at the pond’s annual general meeting. committee member Janice Williams has submitted a resolution asking that the organisation recognise that the definition of woman — in this context — only applies to those born biologically female.
There has been some wrangling over whether the resolution can be aired at all: co- chairs Pauline Latchem and Beth Feresten say the proposal may be unlawful.
It is all a very long way from the genteel pond’s inception as a ladies-only space. Thousands have visited since 1926, enjoying the magic of swimming in fresh water in the heart of the capital.
Three years ago, the writer Esther Freud wrote about the pond in Vogue magazine: ‘At the height of summer, as many as 2,000 women of every shape and size, all classes, all ages, from across London, across the country, even from abroad, arrive to swim and sunbathe on the meadow,’ she said.
RECENTLY though, controversy has begun to lap round the edges of this once untroubled space, starting with a new, initially voluntary charge brought in by city of London corporation, which has managed the pond since 1989. This became compulsory in March 2020, and is still being challenged legally.
now comes the toxic row about access, which dates back to 2019 when, citing the 2010 Equality Act, the city of London adopted a new policy to allow trans women (biological males who identify as women) to use the pond,
Protests followed. In one demonstration about 20 women ‘identifying’ as men (one sported a pantomime beard; another a limegreen mankini, a male version of a bikini) demanded access to the nearby men’s pond to highlight the absurdity of ‘ gender selfidentification’ before being ejected by staff.
Undeterred, Venice Allan founded Let Women Swim — a campaign to reclaim Kenwood Ladies’ Pond as a female- only space by 2025. It staged a protest in August 2022, when 130 placard-wielding women lined the pathway to the pool.
‘I don’t want to live in a femaleonly society, I’m not a separatist,’ Venice told the Mail this week. ‘But it’s a special, iconic place that has now become unnecessarily politicised. It’s also deeply ironic that the city of London talks about inclusion, when their policy clearly discriminates about women.
‘Trans women can swim in the mixed pond, but the female-only pond is the only place where women of certain religious faiths like Orthodox Jewish women and Muslim women can swim.
‘I know for a fact that some women from those backgrounds no longer come.’
Venice says she has seen biological males at the pond.
‘I’ve been there when someone with hormone-induced moobs is at the edge of the pond letting it all hang out and it is hard to feel that it isn’t a statement,’ she says.
Another regular swimmer, who asked not to be named, said that she had watched in amazement as a man in tiny trunks showing his genitalia entered the pond unchallenged by anyone. He then went on to sunbathe nearby.
‘For many women who have been swimming there for decades it’s changed the feel of the place and they are bitterly opposed to the changes,’ says Venice, who acknowledges others beg to differ. ‘Many — but not all — younger women are not as bothered,’ she adds.
Such disagreements are, of course, only natural among any large organisation: the KLPA has roughly 1,000 members who pay annual membership fees of about £5 a year.
Latterly however, the differences of opinion have morphed into something uglier. There have been accusations of bullying on WhatsApp groups, and supporters of single-sex spaces say they have been ejected from the group’s Facebook page.
corporate management trainer Janice, 68, who was elected to the 12-strong committee last year, is among those claiming to be on the receiving end of unpleasant behaviour after finding her views about access to the pond were at odds with the 11 others.
‘They had just been on Gendered Intelligence training funded by the city of London — and were all very clear that trans women are women,’ she says. ‘ They are of course entitled to that view, but I felt I had to speak out.
‘I wrote a measured email saying I have to disassociate myself from this policy, making it clear I understood they had a different view, but that I felt people were vulnerable.’
She received no response but claims that she has been effectively marginalised ever since.
JANICE says: ‘ I have evidence that they are meeting without me and not issuing minutes, and there has been some very unpleasant bullying on WhatsApp. I have been accused of joining the KLPA merely to create dissent.’
Another KLPA member, who asked not to be named, said that the committee had been ‘entirely deaf’ to concerns’ from women about self-identification.
‘This is why there has been a groundswell of protest, as members feel they are not being listened to,’ she says. ‘ Moreover, the committee talks about receiving legal advice — well what exactly was it?
‘As this was presumably paid for by the members, why has it not been shared with us?’
In november, there was further unhappiness when, at an ‘extraordinary’ general meeting, the committee proposed ‘ tidying up’ the constitution with changes that would have given ‘regular’ swimmers — who they described as ‘those who swim year round at least once a week’ a greater say in pond business.
‘conveniently, this applies to most of the women on the committee, who all live nearby and can get to the pond easily,’ says Janice. ‘ This is effectively pond apartheid, giving greater say to some than others. not terribly equal is it?’
Another member puts it differently. ‘ The behaviour of the committee would make Putin proud,’ she says.
yesterday, KLPA co- chairs Pauline Latchem and Beth Feresten told the Mail: ‘ We don’t control who swims at the Ladies’ Pond — that is the responsibility of the city of London which owns and manages Hampstead Heath.
‘As a user group, we are not dismissing anyone’s views as is evident from the fact that a resolution to exclude trans women from membership is being put forward to members at the SGM.
‘The officers of the KLPA do however have strong reason to believe that if adopted the proposal would be unlawful and it is our duty to make that clear to all members before they vote on the matter.’
For Venice Allan this is mere politicking. ‘We shouldn’t have to justify having a space for ourselves,’ she says.