Downstream

King’s Meadow pool tended
to ‘migrate upstream’ to the
backwater side of Fry’s
Island. In 1909 the Reading
Swimming Club and the
Island Bohemian Club held a
gala on the island, with a one-
mile open race, comic
costume competition, fancy
diving, a mop tournament,
duck hunt, greasy pole and
water polo as well as school
races. People were no longer
simply racing in the Thames;