It was once a place of pristine green grass, clear blue water, joyous shouts of children and families enjoying themselves in the warm Dundee sun.
People would gather for braais and the more daring would perform heroic tricks off the three-tier diving boards.
It was even the meeting place for boyfriends and girlfriends – relationships that would blossom into marriages that are still going strong.
Dundee Junior School would hold their annual swimming gala there and there would be much excitement as the children pitted their swimming skills against each other.
Those happy images now lie in ruins in the wreckage of what remains of the Victorianesque-named Dundee Municipal Baths. You can just about make out that faded sign on the shabby façade on Union Street next to the Oval.

Reflecting on Dundee’s past as we mark Heritage Day … – Dundee

While access to the area has been limited since a fence was put up around the Union Street entrance, the smashed walls and dilapidated fences at the back of the pool area, from the Excelsior Street area, make walking in – or rather stumbling to avoid the fallen branches, used condoms and mountains of litter – easy. As have the homeless folk, who call it home, have found.
They have set up home under the crumbling shelters where families spent their summer days long before the advent of DSTV and PlayStation.
Graham Morgan remembers paying 5 cents to enter the pool and he and his friends would spend the whole day there. There was also a kids’ paddling pool beside the huge pool that is over 2 metres deep at the ‘deep end’.

A caretaker would keep an eye on things but those to whom the Courier spoke recalled that ‘there were never any problems of an anti-social nature’.
“You could even buy a season ticket,” Graham recalled. “People knew how to conduct themselves back then – there was no need to police them.”
Now, the pool is more like a dumping ground and the smell of human excrement permeates the air. What could the old pool be turned into to be of use to the community? A skateboard park? BMX track? Clearly, the maintenance costs to upkeep such a huge pool would be prohibitive, but maybe it could be turned into a movie set or even a paintball complex? Whatever, it can only be an improvement on the eyesore that now occupies this prime part of Dundee.