A modest prefabricated hut that sat almost forgotten in suburban Kent for more than half a century is at the centre of an international preservation campaign, after it was recognised as a “hugely important” piece of sporting history – and Britain’s oldest operating sauna.
Finland’s ambassador to the UK is leading a campaign to gain listed status for the fragile wooden sauna, which is an extremely rare survivor of the 1948 “austerity” Olympics, hosted on a shoestring in London three years after the end of the second world war.
