When the Brixton Rec Users Group urged supporters of the Rec to tell Historic England why it is important to them and the community, they got a response that was a lot more than expected. Avid Rec user Sandra Brown Springer (above), who has been writing poetry, stories and essays since she was a teenager, put her feelings into verse.
Historic England is considering an application to list the Rec because of its architectural, social and community significance. Lambeth council has guaranteed its life until 2022, after which its future is not certain.
Sandra grew up on the old Angell Town Estate and now lives on Loughborough Estate. She has three children, works full time and swims daily at the Rec. She also runs Afro Hair Care workshops when she has time. A bookworm, she reads voraciously, recording favourite reads on her blog: textualgluttony.wordpress.com.
The Rec and I
I love this place
Where I rush to meet
Myself every day,
Where I learned how to
Defeat myself
Love myself…
Carving out this fit future
From that fat past
She has aided me in
Discovering a different life –
Abetted the development of
Old muscles and new abilities,
In her depths I’ve
Reclaimed childlike agility,
I love this place…
The exterior seems blockish and brutal
But the interior is graced
With so much light and space that
It’s as if all the Gods
Smile upon me
Down through the atrium
And then through the glass roof
Of the jewelled pool
Concentrating the distilled
Benevolence from above
So as to pass it on to users
Spreading the love
Here in this water is my
Favourite place of all to be
Fast … free … graceful … strong …
I can’t stay away too long
She pulls me back
Magnetically and
I’m always ready to be
Dazzled by her glittering beauty …
I enter reverently
and she is faithful, she
Always accepts me
She carries me
Covers me embraces me
She heals me
And envelopes all into
Her level playing field indiscriminately
A space that’s worth more than money
I pay the toll gladly
I revel in this therapy
As she bleeds
My sweat and tension,
My anxiety my pains
My roaring rage to tame
My shame my guilt my blame
She heals me …
And releases me into the world
Shower fresh and baggage free
Feeling lighter righteous hungry
For the day that will build tensions anew
But I know that early each morning
I will pilgrimage to the Rec
The magic’s always here –
She hasn’t failed me yet.
© Sandra Brown Springer, 2016
