Imagine for a moment the prospect of Madonna opening the new-look Guildbourne Centre.

Worthing would go crazy with excitement.

In 1959, the town council passed up the chance of inviting Diana Dors, in her glamorous, hourglass figure heyday, from opening the Lido, all for the sake of £300.

At the time Miss Dors, with her peroxide hair and ample bosom, was THE pin-up girl of British cinema.

It would have been a major coup for the town but as per usual the rent-a-whinge brigade got in on the act and scuppered the idea by bombarding the local press with letters.

One wrote: "As a ratepayer I must strongly object to this waste of public money. As the mayor is the first citizen of Worthing, I should like to know why he should not be asked to perform the opening ceremony."

GH Wroe, of Balcombe Avenue, said: "Why the lady should consider her services are worth so much money is beyond my comprehension.

"In view of the prospect of an increase in the rates, the idea is preposterous."

Mr and Mrs Green, of Offington Avenue, said: "Why does it have to be a film star to open the Lido? What's wrong with our own swimming champion, Angela Barnwell?"

Strangely, for a town full of Conservatives (with a capital C), it was surprising nobody objected to the fact that Miss Dors was a generously proportioned sex kitten who would send out the wrong moral signals to Worthing's young ladies.

The council, clearly rattled by the furore, barred the Press and public from a meeting on the dilemma and, after a 45-

minute secret debate, voted 20 votes to 14 to withdraw the invitation to Miss Dors.

Instead, they asked Miss Judy Grinham, who won swimming gold for England in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, to perform the opening ceremony.

She was accompanied by Miss Barnwell, Worthing's very own 1952 Helsinki Olympics swimming finalist.

The Lido, built at a cost of £13,500 on the site of Worthing's famous but storm-ravaged birdcage bandstand, was opened at Whitsun.

The pool, coated with a plastic cover to stop leaks, measured 100ft by 41ft and ranged in depth from 3ft 6in to 7ft 6in.

Miss Grinham pressed a button to start a fountain as hundreds of people packed into the enclosure looked on and applauded.

She then dived into the pool with Miss Barnwell for a few exhibition lengths.

Alderman JA Mason, chairman of the entertainments and baths committee, said it was a great moment for Worthing, providing an amenity needed by the town for a long time.

His speech was followed by a fashion show, with bathing belles modelling the latest beach wear from Claridges.

The Lido, a wonderful suntrap, when the sun was shining, was built partly so visitors to the town did not have to contend with the dreaded seaweed.

The year 1959 was particularly bad, with great clumps of weed washing up on the shore, prompting councillors to consider launching Operation Dragnet, using trawlers to scrape the seabed clean.

But even the Lido could not escape the smell and pool attendants had to scoop dead flies, which hatched in the weed, from the surface of the water.

In the first two weeks, the Lido attracted 8,613 customers, who paid a total of £369. There were changing rooms on the east side of the horseshoe enclosure and a cafe on the west side.

The pool remained a feature of the seafront for about 30 years, but even Worthing could not provide constant sunshine and income varied greatly from year to year.

In the mid-1980s, one entrepreneur put forward plans for a water park, with giant twisting flumes descending into a plunge pool, but critics likened the plastic tubes to a sea monster's tentacles and the scheme was rejected.

Finally, the pool was closed and covered over, paving the way for Gary Smart, boss of Smarts Maritime Park, in Littlehampton, to install children's rides.

He did a superb job, improving the decor beyond recognition and overseeing the opening of retail units along the promenade frontage.

But Gary's heart was in revamping his Littlehampton site and, after several seasons, he relinquished the lease, to be followed by tenants lacking the vision and finance to improve the venue.

This year has been a lowpoint, with the incumbents not even bothering to remove the shutters from most of the windows bordering the external walkway.

Despite possessing Worthing's only purpose-built bandstand, not one brass band has appeared on the Lido's stage this summer.

The decor urgently needs a facelift, and some of the external guttering looks like it could do with replacing, bearing in mind it is a listed building.

Temporary signs have been placed over some of the shop units and the awnings over the children's rides look tatty and neglected.

Surely it is time for the borough council to step in -

and they don't need a blonde bombshell to do it.

What do you think? Write
to Paul Holden at 35 Chapel Road, Worthing, BN11 1EG or e-mail paul.holden@

theargus.co.uk