text: Ipswich has a rich history of public swimming. During the 1830s, there were at least three designated swimming places - one was near St Cement's, the second was next to St Mary-At-The Quay and the third not far from Stoke Bridge. These were all closed in the late 1830s during the building of the wet dock. A designated enclosed area of the River Orwell, called Stoke Bathing Place, was created to cater for the swimmers. It was damaged in the floods of 1953 but maps show the swimming place still in situ as late as 1973. Ipswich Swimming, formed in 1884 as Ipswich Swimming Club, used the Stoke Swimming Place. Fore Street Swimming Pool opened in 1894. The pool is still in use and is the second oldest swimming pool in is in the UK. Pipers Vale Pool opened in 1937 after replacing the West End Bathing Place, which had closed in 1936 due to fears that it was polluting the River Orwell. Broom Hill pool opened, in 1986, which was prompted to serve the western side of the town. It closed in 2002 but is about to be restored with the plan of opening again in 2025/26. St Matthew's Baths was opened in 1924 and closed in 1984 when Crown Pools opened, which is still in use. The Ipswich Swimming Club, is based there although they use the Fore Street swimming pool, too. The most successful Ipswich Swimming Club member is World Championship gold medallist Karen Pickering. There are plans for a new "low carbon aquatics centre"  with the intention of opening next to Ipswich Town Football Club in 2027.
  Ipswich had a racecourse which ran a mix of flat and National Hunt races.
  Education