It was the pictures of luxurious swimming pools in the hotel brochures that made up 78-year-old Bennie Walmsley's mind.

"Right, monkey," he thought. "It's time I learned to swim."

So Bennie, pictured, signed up for lessons at Bingley Baths and now, a few months later, he has won his ten-metre badge and is now looking forward to splashing out in South Africa.

That was where the retired insurance man last set foot in a public baths - nearly 60 years ago.

"I was there with the RAF in 1944, fitting engines," said Bennie, of Staveley Court, Park Road, Bingley. "We used to go into the baths to wash the muck off."

Bennie hasn't been back to South Africa since, but is flying there for a three-week tour in May, revisiting his wartime haunts. "I was leafing through brochures and nearly every hotel seemed to have a swimming pool," he said.

"I'm really looking forward to being able to go in the pools, but only at the shallow end - I still like to keep one foot on the floor!"