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Eight year old Dylan Morris-Adams loves his weekly lessons so much that he took it upon himself to write a letter to the Council asking them to reconsider their decision to close Moseley Road Baths.

Dylan has been swimming at Moseley Road Baths since he was a baby.  He writes:

‘My little brother is 3 and he already has his 25 metre badge.  I have every badge up to my 2000 metre badge and we both wouldn’t be such good swimmers if it wasn’t for Moseley Baths’

Dylan shared some photos from his baby photo album with us – and it was clear from talking with him and his Mum that the building occupies a very special place in their family’s life.

Dylan’s Swimming photos from Rachel Gillies on Vimeo.

We spoke with Dylan to find out more about his swimming achievements and his attachment to the Baths.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with such distances, 2,000 metres is the equivalent of 80 miles of a 25 metre pool!

Dylan – Strokes lessons from Rachel Gillies on Vimeo.

The popular ‘Strokes’ swimming programme is now being phased out and is being replaced with the ASA ‘Learn to Swim Pathway’.  With schools increasingly under time and budgetary constraints, so many children are reliant on out of school swimming lessons to learn to swim.  Whilst Sparkhill Baths is being offered as an alternative facility from 2015, many families would simply struggle to get over there after school.

The task is now to give young people like Dylan every opportunity to fulfil their swimming ambitions – and in Dylan’s case he wants to head to Olympic glory.  From what we’ve seen he may just manage it…

Photographer Attilio Fiumarella is seeking help to develop a photographic project with swimmers as part of the local ‘Some Cities’ photography project. His project will represent the swimming pool’s users in an atmosphere inspired by the butterfly and its cocoon. People will be photographed inside the Moseley Road Baths’ building, surrounded by a fascinating light and involved in selected materials, similar to a cocoon.

Attilio explains: ‘The cocoon provides the butterfly with enough energy for a new life. In the same way, in this imaginary world we will create together, the users will absorb the swimming pool’s essence, keeping the heritage alive.’

The image of the disused Gala Pool is just one shot from his recent tour of the building – so this promises to be something very special!

To learn more about the project and / or to volunteer yourself as one of his models (people of all backgrounds, abilities, shapes and sizes are welcome!), come along to a short talk on the project at:

The Tea Room (by Reception), Friday 7th February, 6:30pm.

Please e-mail contact@friendsofmrb.co.uk to confirm your attendance.

More of Attilio’s beautiful work can be seen at www.attiliofiumarella.com

‘Be Active’ is a scheme where all Birmingham residents can access sports and leisure facilities for free at certain times of day.  You will need to take proof of your address (bill, bank statement or similar) to the pool to get a Leisure Card.  You can then use this card to access your free session every time you go to the centre.  There are sessions at all Council run sports and leisure centres, so do check each centre for details.  The details for free swim sessions at Moseley Road Baths are:

New ‘Be Active’ swim times

Public swim
Monday – 9-11am
Tuesday – 9-11am, 2-4pm
Wednesday – 9-11am, 1:45-3pm
Thursday – 9-11am, 3:45-4:45pm, 5pm-6pm
Saturday – 1-2pm, 2-3pm
Sunday – 8-9am

Disability Swim session
Wednesday 11:30am-12:30pm

Adult Lane Swim
Friday – 7:30-8:30pm
Sunday – 7-8am

Our next meeting this coming Wednesday (15th January) will now be taking place at the Tea Room at Moseley Road Baths from 7:30pm.  If you require help with access then do please contact us in advance and we can make arrangements.

This week we hit our 7th Anniversary as a campaign group.  This comes the same week that the Council have announced their intention to close nine pools across the city.  The fact that we’ve been the first port of call for the media, Twitter has been pinging away constantly and we have received so many supportive messages is testament to how far we have come in that time.

Details of the closures

Leisure Centres lined up for the axe are Newtown Pool, Colmers Leisure Centre, Court Road, Erdington Leisure Centre, Moseley Road Swimming Pool, Northfield Pool, Shard End leisure centre, Stechford Cascades and Tiverton Pool in Selly Oak.

Six new pools and leisure centres are due to be built with £36 million of public funds.  These will be at Sparkhill, Erdington, Ickneild Port Loop, Northfield, Shard End and Stechford Cascades.

Existing facilities at Wyndley in Sutton Coldfield, Beeches in Great Barr, Fox Hollies in Yardley, and Cocks Moors Woods in Kings Heath will be farmed out to private operators to run under council controls.

This hotchpotch of private and public funding and ownership raises real concerns about accountability, access and most worryingly private companies creaming off profits at the expense of staff and swimmers.

Emergency meeting

We are bringing December’s meeting forward to:

Thursday 5th December
7:30pm
Anderton Park School Children’s Centre, Dennis Road, Balsall Heath

The venue is wheelchair accessible and on-street parking is available.  Access from Anderton Park Road end only

Who should run the building?

Last month we wrote about the possibility of the group entering preliminary discussions with the Council about other models of ownership and management of the building.  It is clear that the building has massive untapped potential and that creative thinking is needed to bring currently unused areas of the building into use, and to create new ways of generating income for running and maintenance.

At this month’s meeting we decided to go ahead with talks, although we are still very sceptical about the prospect of any transfer allowing for swimming to be retained in the building.  Talks are due to begin early next year, and we would welcome your thoughts on this.

My name is Isra Hassan who is 8 years old and I live close to Moseley swimming Pool. I also attend Park Hill School in year 3 and as part of PE our teacher takes us to Moseley baths every Wednesday. I really really enjoy swimming and as I enjoy it so much my parents have put myself and my younger sister for swimming lessons every Fridays after school.

I am a great swimmer now thanks to the friendly staff and the availability of the Moseley swimming baths. My parents both work and told me if this swimming baths closes then I will NOT be able to go to swimming lessons any more because that’s the closest swimming baths to my house and convenient.

Both myself and my sister extremely enjoy swimming and we both look forwards to Friday all week, but if it closes then I wont have that any more and I will be very very sad to see it go.

Can you please try your best to keep this swimming baths open because they already closed Sparkhill Swimming baths where my mother used to take me every Saturdays as well.

PLEASE PLEASE DON’T CLOSE MY SWIMMING BATHS.

Last week we submitted the following letter to Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council on behalf of community representatives from the local area from the fields of health, education, community development, heritage and culture.  The letter highlights the strategic importance of the building as a swimming facility and signals a desire for the community to preserve this important local amenity.

Continue reading Open letter to Councillor Ian Ward

We’re still smiling after a well supported and positive event last Saturday, 31st August, which saw swimmers and supporters share their ideas for how we could use the Gala Pool, a decade after it closed for swimming.  People are anxious to get involved in the campaign and upset that Moseley Road Baths may lay empty within 18 months.

It was particularly nice to open up the Gala Pool to visitors.  Kids’ eyes just light up when they see the Gala Pool.  They find the space magical – its size, its acoustics, its grandeur.  Members of the group were fielding lots of questions, which really highlighted the potential to open the building as a heritage centre.

We got some great press coverage, with a piece on Midlands Today and articles at the BBC website and Birmingham Mail.  Pete Cole from The Balsall Heathan also joined us – thanks so much for the use of his lovely photos featured here!

Ideas for the Gala Pool ranged from the sensible to the sublime.  My particular favourite was the idea for Surfboarding.  The idea for the pool to be adapted for use as a space for therapy and rehabilitation showed how pools can meet the needs of quite specific groups.  There was also an idea which we have raised before – make the building more efficient through the use of a Combined Heat and Power project to capture excess heat for neighbouring buildings.  Visitors were also inspired by the currently empty Slipper Baths, which one person thought would be ideal for health and beauty treatments.  What a way to relax looking at the stained glass!

Click on the thumbnails below to read some of the ideas!

The event highlighted once again the imagination of local residents – a huge contrast to the attitude of the Council who appear reluctant even to market the building as a swimming facility.  The consultation as part of the HLF application encapsulated the eagerness of local residents and organisations to gain greater access to the space.  Schools, colleges, community groups and health workers all see the potential of the space – hundreds of people responded to the consultation which has since been gathering dust.

The Friends of Moseley Road Baths are now pushing for the HLF Bid to be resubmitted to prevent the closure of the building, which the Council anticipate will happen before March 2015.

Saturday 31st August, 10:30am,
 Gala Pool

On Saturday we mark a decade since the Gala Pool closed to the public for swimming. Anyone who has peeped through the window to the pool or has taken a tour of the building will know what a sad sight it is. However, the HLF bid that was ready to be submitted in December 2012 had a plan to bring the space back into public use. This gorgeous space has so much potential. We want to use the decade anniversary to highlight that.

Join us at 10:30am this coming Saturday to add your ‘vision’ for the space to our display. You can also learn more about the campaign and how to get involved, view part of our well received exhibition, and (adults only) go into the Gala Pool for a brief tour. A show of numbers on this day would be brilliant – we have invited the press along so we’re hoping for a bit of coverage to highlight just how passionate we are about the building!

Spread the word and hopefully see you there!

Event to mark ‘Decade of Decay’ for historic Birmingham swimming baths

Saturday 31^st August – (possible photocall Friday 30^th August)

 The Friends of Moseley Road Baths will be marking the tenth anniversary of the closure of the historic Gala Pool this Saturday, August 31st with a display of proposals to restore the pool hall to it’s former glory as part of their campaign to persuade Birmingham City Council to re-activate a stalled £8m bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The proposals came out of a wide scale public consultation conducted last year by Birmingham Conservation Trust on behalf of the Council.

Swimmers and supporters are invited to join The Friends of Moseley Road Baths at the Gala Pool to add their vision for the future of the building to a display.  There will also be photo opportunities in the Gala Pool.  A photocall can be arranged with the group for Friday 30^th August on request.

Quote: “In the Foreword to our recent book, ‘Pool of Memories: A History of Moseley Road Baths’, writer and historic pools expert Simon Inglis described Moseley Road Baths as a building of international importance. The Gala Pool is the jewel in its crown, widely acknowledged to be the finest swimming pool hall in Britain, and with all of its principal features intact. That it has been left to deteriorate for a decade is tantamount to civic vandalism.

“We are calling upon Birmingham City Council to both look after their own building and the people of Balsall Heath by restoring this once magnificent facility. We appreciate the financial restraints upon the city but the HLF bid, which is supported by English Heritage, involves expenditure of £3m over a three year period, a negligible amount to a local authority with a £3.5 billion annual budget.”

The Council confirmed in a written response to a recent petition that Moseley Road Baths will play no part in the city’s swimming strategy and will remain open for as long as is feasible until Sparkhill Baths reopens, giving Moseley Road Baths until March 2015 at the very latest.

Rachel Gillies, Secretary of the Friends of Moseley Road Baths stated that ‘Saturday’s event will be an opportunity to highlight how badly local councillors have let down our area.  Their recent response to our petition to submit the HLF bid confirmed yet again their unwillingness to address the concerns of residents and pupils who want to swim there and who are unable to make the journey to Sparkhill.  In a week when we celebrate the opening of the Library of Birmingham, the lack of investment in Moseley Road Baths stands in stark contrast.’

Before the Gala Pool closed in August 2003 there were four pools in operation across the Hall Green District.  With the closure of Sparkhill Baths and the Gala Pool that number has been reduced to just one to meet the needs of the whole area.  The Council have not answered questions as to how the demand will be matched in future.

Local community leaders and Head Teachers are now putting their names to an open letter calling for the building to be retained as a swimming facility to meet the demand for swimming in the area.  More details will be released within the next few months.

The event at Moseley Road Baths comes just days before the formation of a nationwide Historic Pools Campaign Group involving organisations such as the Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester and Glasgow’s Govanhill Baths Trust. The meeting, at which the Friends of Moseley Road Baths will be present, takes place in Manchester on Wednesday, September 4th.

Moseley Road Baths was opened in October 1907 and is listed Grade II*. The Gala (or First Class) Pool was closed for swimming owing to the need for structural repairs on August 31st 2003 although Pool 2 (the former Second Class Pool) remains operational.

For more information about Saturday’s event, contact Rachel Gillies, Secretary, Friends of Moseley Road Baths: 07967 093 256; Jenny Austin, Chair: 0777 609 5885

The Friends of Moseley Road Baths

August 26th 2013