Moseley Road Baths celebrated its 110th birthday this year and received £36,495 in gifts to keep the swimming pool open!
£26,495 of this amount was via the Crowdfunder campaign which finished on Wednesday 6th December, and £10,000 was from Awards for All to train members of the local community as lifeguards.
Moseley Road Baths had been identified for closure by Birmingham City Council, but a loud and vocal community campaign – with the support of national and international heritage organisations – led to a reprieve in the summer of 2017. Since this decision, the Moseley Road Baths Community Interest Company (MRB CIC) has been developing a workable model for swimming and hopes to be about to take over operational responsibility for water activity from April 2018. The money from Awards for All and the amazing support from the Crowdfunder will play a large part in this.
There has been celebrity as well as community support throughout this campaign, which was launched by comedy character Barbara Nice. Joe Lycett, Adil Ray (Citizen Khan) and Annette Badland all contributed to and publicly supported the crowdfunder. Annette even appeared at the Baths for photographs and an appearance on Midlands Today! Benjamin Zephaniah tweeted his memories of the building and his support for our campaign.
One of the MRB CIC Directors, Kat Pearson, led the crowdfunding and said;
“We are overwhelmed by the final Crowdfunder total and at the level of support we’ve had throughout 2017. This isn’t just about the money we’ve raised, it is a demonstration of the strength of feeling throughout Birmingham and further afield that this pool is an asset which needs to be kept open. We are also incredibly fortunate to have received the Awards for All grant which will enable us to start training lifeguards and other volunteers as soon as possible.”
Details of the Crowdfunder:
- 345 people donated a total of £26,495- including £8,750 from Birmingham City Council’s Community Innovation Fund.
- Not including this match funding this is an average pledge of approximately £51.
- The most popular donation amount was £20 (this wasn’t a pledge amount with a reward attached so is an excellent testament to the support for keeping the baths open!)
- 39 people claimed a print as a reward and will receive either a photograph or watercolour of the Baths donated by local photographer Viv Harrison, and artist Jane Tavener (see attached).
- 65 people will receive our specially commissioned pin badge designed by local designer Kerry Leslie.
Birmingham City Council continues to work with the group to support their plans to operate the baths as a community run pool, and also with other heritage partners such as Historic England, National Trust and World Monuments Fund to plan for the longer term renovation of this Grade II* listed building.