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Friends of Moseley Road Baths are seeking a volunteer to contribute towards their Heritage Lottery Funded ‘Pool of Memories’ Project by putting excerpts of our digital archive online.

Friends of Moseley Road Baths have a firm commitment to preserving and celebrating the heritage of Moseley Road Baths. In 2009 we submitted a bid for just under £48,000 to the Heritage Lottery Fund for an extensive oral history project encompassing a wide range of activities including the production of a book, teaching resource, DVD, permanent exhibition and drama project. The bid was successful and we launched the three year Pool of Memories project during February 2010.

Since then scores of audio recordings have been collected and catalogued.  We are now seeking a volunteer to select some of this material for use in the wider project.

You will be required to:

• Listen to audio recordings
• Select the best material for use on our website, literature and in exhibitions
• Extract audio clips using audio editing software (we suggest Audacity)
• Upload audio files to an online space
• Embed audio recordings into our website (hosted on WordPress)

You will need:

• An interest in oral history and appreciation of the requirements of our project
• Experience of using audio editing software
• Access to your own computer
• A copy of Audacity (available to download for free)
• To collaborate with the Pool of Memories project co-ordinators and workers

We are not looking for a certain number of hours or edited files.  We are willing to work around your existing commitments – anything that you can contribute to the project is welcomed.  In return we can provide references, give you opportunities to get involved in other aspects of the project and credit you in our ongoing work.

If you are interested, please contact memories@friendsofmrb.co.uk

A lovely poem here from the Birmingham Conservation Trust’s website which shows a photo of Moseley Road Baths’ slipper baths.  Thank you!

The good folk over at Birmingham Conservation Trust have been working hard to draw together ideas for activities that can be included in Birmingham City Council’s £5million bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for Phase 1 of the restoration.  The HLF are keen for any work to involve the wider community, so that we can all share in the heritage of this neighbourhood gem.  We met with members of BCT at our last committee meeting and it’s clear that there’s loads of potential if the political will is there to put in a solid bid.  You can read more about the bid and how you can contribute your own ideas by contacting BCT directly and reading more about the bid on their site.

Obviously any successful bid will need to be championed by a supportive and proactive local council.  We’ll be prodding local councillors to make sure that they play their part and make good on the promise of match funding for the bid.

After a huge demand and some successful lobbying by eager swimmers, Moseley Road Baths have added new swim times for Women Only sessions on Tuesdays.  These are in addition to the regular sessions and lessons on Monday evenings.

The Women Only swim times are:

Monday

3:30 – 4:30 – with children including boys under 8

4:45 – 5:45 – with children including boys under 8

6:00 – 7:30 – adults only

7:45 – 8:15 – lessons (please see reception to book lessons)

8:15 – 8:45 – lessons (please see reception to book lessons)

Tuesday

4:30 – 5:30 – with children including boys under 8

5:45 – 6:45 – with children including boys under 8

7:00 – 8:00 – adults only

The Moseley Shoals are of course happy to be back in the pool – and have found a way of lessening their costs:  they are doing their own lifeguarding for their sessions.  At present they only have four people they can call on so they have arranged a week’s course at the Baths, starting Monday 21st May, 9am to 5pm.  This is a course to make you a fully trained, employable lifeguard.  They have spare places on this course.

If you want to train and can subsequently also offer to lifeguard occasionally for the Shoal sessions then the training is free.

If you just want to train and not lifeguard for them, they will ask for a contribution of half the cost, £250.

Contact can be made via Shoals’ website www.moseleyshoals.org.uk or phone 0121 346 1522.
If you know of anyone who may be interested, please pass this on to them.

Yesterday the Labour Party took overall control of Birmingham City Council and now hold every seat in the Sparkbrook Ward where the Baths is situated.  Back in March we put some questions to Cllr Kennedy, Chair of Hall Green Constituency and one of the councillors for the ward.  To date we have had no response.  As the new council settles into the new roles, we’ll be hoping to meet and discuss how we can build on the success of last month’s reopening and ensure the long term future of the building as a swimming facility.

These questions are as yet unanswered:

1. What publicity and/or events will the Constituency undertake to mark the re-opening of the Moseley Road Baths? We would be happy to play our part in promoting and helping to organise the re-opening.
2. Does the constituency retain a commitment to both school and community swimming at Moseley Road Baths, both in the short and in the long term?
3. How will the day-to-day operation of the Baths be affected by the plans, as announced by your colleague Martin Straker-Welds, to pass responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the building to the Corporate Centre?
4. How will such a move impact on the HLF bid for the baths, which the Labour group have stated that they support?

Mon 09.00 to 11.00hrs
Tue 09.00 to 11.00hrs and 14.00 to 16.00hrs
Wed 09.00 to 11.00hrs and 13.45 to 15.45 hrs
Thurs 09.00 to 11.00hrs
Fri 19.30 to 20.30hrs
Sat 13.00 to 15.00hrs extended from 14.30hrs
Sun 07.00hrs to 08.00hrs

The ‘Be Active’ scheme allows Birmingham residents in certain postcodes to take exercise sessions for free at allotted times. For full details of the scheme see the Council website. If you are signed up to the scheme you will be able to swim for free at the following times:

Mon 09.00 to 11.00hrs
Tue 09.00 to 11.00hrs and 14.00 to 16.00hrs
Wed 09.00 to 11.00hrs and 13.45 to 15.45 hrs
Thurs 09.00 to 11.00hrs
Fri 19.30 to 20.30hrs
Sat 13.00 to 14.30hrs

Please note that these are subject to change – if in doubt then ask at the pool…