Ipswich's Broomhill lido celebrated in photo exhibition
- Published

University of Suffolk student Deborah Norwood, from Fakenham, Norfolk, originally planned to theme her pictures of fairytales at the site of a ruined building, but when when she visited Broomhill pool she "saw the beauty of it" and decided the make it the main subject of her photographic collection.

Deborah, 28, first got interested in photography while she was was unwell due to chronic fatigue syndrome. Her granddad bought her a digital camera on her 21st birthday. "He and my nan used to take me out when I was poorly and I would take photographs," she said. "It was something I could do that didn't make me feel even worse. I fell in love with photography."

The photographs of Broomhill, including the men's changing rooms, are part of her University of Suffolk course where she is in her third and final year.

She says: "I wanted to capture the bits of the building that you can't see on Google Earth, the bits that when you look at the images, you think you remember that. I want people to remember their childhood, and now that the pool has received their lottery funding and have the green light for their restoration, they can look at my images and visualise what it will become."

Deborah says she has "learnt so much" from the course which has helped her "rebuild" her life.

Deborah hopes to continue taking pictures of Broomhill as it is renovated, following a £3.4m award from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is due to reopen in 2020.

Deborah says this is one of her favourite pictures: "It is of the old ladies changing room. It just looks like it has stopped in time."

Her pictures will form part of an exhibition of photographs by 23 students from the university at the Waterfront Gallery in Ipswich. The students are raising money to exhibit their work at Candid Arts in London on 14 June.

Her pictures show how the site was derelict, but it is set to rise from the ashes. More information can be found on Facebook, twitter and Instagram at @uosdegreeshow and Deborah Norwood has the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/DebNwoodPhotos/ .