Tonight’s meeting (Tuesday 7th July)

What is it for?

This meeting has been called by a working group, which includes members of the ‘Friends of Moseley Road Baths’ to try and draw people together to discuss what can be done with the building in the event Birmingham City Council forging ahead with their plan to close the building for swimming next year.  The meeting will have a number of different speakers outlining different possible models for running a community pool and both individuals and organisations will be able to contribute their ideas to helping to create a strategy.

What are the aims of the group?

The working group see public swimming and heritage as being the most important factors in the future of the building.  They acknowledge that there are considerable challenges, but are eager to start a wider conversation about a way forward.

What are the details?

The meeting takes place tonight (7th July) at 7pm, St Paul’s School, Hertford Street (on the corner with Clifton Road).  All are welcome.

How can I find out more?

We will update supporters on any outcomes from the meeting through our newsletter and social media.  We will also be reporting back at our AGM.

As mentioned previously, a working group (including members of FOMRB) has formed to look into funding and development options for how the future of the Baths can be secured for both swimming and other community uses. The group is working with the Council on this. There is a meeting on 7th July, 7pm, at St Paul’s School, Hertford Street, Balsall Heath, to bring all stakeholders together to discuss options.

Do come along if you’re interested. If you have any questions, contact Karen Leach, karen@localisewestmidlands.org.uk or 0121 685 1155

In this update:

Welcome to this long overdue update on the Baths campaign and Baths related news!  There’s lots to share – and don’t forget if you want to add any items then let us know!  This month we’re covering:

• Timetable changes and staffing issues
• Moving forward with plans for the building?
• Sparkhill Baths news
• Photos from Fierce Festival
• Time to get active?  A call out for volunteers
• Sampad’s heritage project on the Stratford Road
• Details of our next meeting and forthcoming AGM

When can I swim?

Staffing shortages

Many regular swimmers may be aware that there have been a number of changes to the timetable and we have learnt that this Wednesday the building was closed.  This is due to temporary staffing shortages which are hopefully being resolved with the appointment of a new Duty Manager.

Women Only sessions

There is an ongoing issue with a lack of female lifeguards to cover the Monday night Women’s Only sessions.  Monday evenings are now a mixed session but we understand that the Tuesday night Women Only session is due to be extended.  As always, do ring ahead if you are concerned.

Be Active swim times

There are new times for the popular ‘Be Active’ scheme, which enables all Birmingham residents to swim for free at designated times with a valid Leisure Card.  The Tuesday morning Public Swim has now moved to a Friday morning.  It’s proving particularly popular with pre-school kids!

Aqua session

Also, we want to give a plug for the Tuesday night Aquarobics session.  Have fun, get fit with John Currivan, ‘The Fitness Guru’.  We hear great things about this session.  It takes place on Thursday evenings at 8pm.  Ring John on 07502 010 200 for more details.

With a looming closure…

…it’s not just members of the Friends of Moseley Road Baths who are concerned about the future of the building.  Closure of Moseley Road Baths is currently pencilled in for whenever Sparkhill reopens (more on that below).  Previous attempts to push Councillors into any kind of constructive discussion on the future of the building have proved fruitless, so members of the group have met with a number of local organisations to try and look at options for the building.  It was a well attended and positive meeting, and the group were unanimous in their belief that the building should remain open for public swimming.  The group agreed the following as the outcomes we would be seeking from working together with the Council on a future for Moseley Road Baths:

• It must stay open for swimming, alongside other uses.
• Ideally both pools would be open for swimming but we recognise this is ambitious.
• If only one pool can be saved, the Gala pool is preferred.
• The building should primarily be owned and operated on a non-profit basis for community use.
• There might be some concerns over significant residential use.

The group is willing to explore any options within these bounds.  There will be a wider meeting with all potential stakeholders, organised with the assistance of Cllr Trickett and Cllr Holbrook, at the end of June, beginning of July.

Sparkhill Baths update

We received this from the Council’s Strategic Sports Team on 11th May:

‘We are currently undertaking the work to remove the asbestos within the old building, this will then allow the final ground condition surveys to be completed.  As long as the removal of the remaining asbestos goes without any further problems, this should allow demolition to take place during the school summer holidays, with construction following soon afterwards.  Service availability is expected in December 2016.’

Fierce Festival photos

We’ve been reliving last October’s magical Fierce Festival with these lovely images sent from Artists Laura Delaney and Lisa Stewart that were taken by Fierce’s photographer.  Yet another example of how a pool of water can be a starting point for so many creative and interesting uses.

Could we have some of your time?

The Friends Group will have stalls at a couple of events during June and July and would greatly appreciate any extra help on these days, even if it is only for a couple of hours. They are:

Sunday 28th June 11am-4pm
Birmingham Lives History Fair at Trefoil House Holloway Head Birmingham B1 1QL, not far from the ‘Pagoda Island’ on the A38.
We have one of nearly 30 stalls run by local history groups, which will be in the main hall of Trefoil House (the Birmingham Girlguiding HQ).

Saturday 4th July 9am-3pm (approx.)
Moseley Festival Street Market held on both sides of the main road through Moseley Village.

Postcard distribution

Could you stick some of our ‘Let’s Keep Swimming at Moseley Road Baths’ postcards through doors on your street?  Or give some out at the school gate, in your office or in a local café?  If so then let us know and we can get a stash to you!

If anyone is willing to help, please email Mark Gunton at events@friendsofmrb.co.uk.

‘My Route’ is Sampad’s community heritage project exploring the changing history of the people, culture and landscape around Stratford Rd between Sparkbrook and Hall Green in Birmingham since the 1940s.

This exhibition will be held from Saturday 13th June to Friday 10th July, along the entire Stratford Road from Sparkbrook to Hall Green. The exhibition will feature photography by the renowned Birmingham photographer Vanley Burke, and sound installations by Brian Duffy, famous for his work with Modified Toy Orchestra. There will be a heritage trail both in physical form and as a mobile application using augmented reality, developed by local digital developers Substrakt. A touch-table map tracking the changes along the road from 1945 to present day will be available to use at the Bordesley Centre and at Hall Green Library, and a number of satellite exhibitions at nearby locations are being developed. A free publication will also accompany the exhibition.

For more details, visit http://myroute.org.uk/exhibition-trail .

Forthcoming meetings

if you have made it this far through our update then you’re probably exactly who we need to come and join us at our regular meetings!  Meetings are friendly and informal and we welcome new faces and fresh ideas!

Next meeting
Thursday 11th June
Anderton Park Children’s Centre
7.30pm prompt

AGM Notice
This is schedule for Wednesday 8th July from 6:30pm at Ort Café, opposite the Baths.
Nominations for the positions of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are open, please send nominations to contact@friendsofmrb.co.uk

We know things can get pretty hectic over the Easter holidays for you busy lot, so we have decided to change the date of our next meeting to Thursday 16th April, 7:30pm with a change of venue.  We will now be meeting at the Tea Room in Moseley Road Baths.

We look forward to seeing you there!

What an amazing response!

Every time the Friends of Moseley Road Baths have hosted an event, we wait nervously to see if anyone will show up.  Experience should tell us not to worry, as each time we’re heartened by how many people are so eager to view the building and come for a swim!

Around 80 people alone came on a tour upstairs with others just viewing the pools, slipper baths and boiler room downstairs.  Former Baths employee John Berrill’s description of how the plant and equipment worked was both highly informative and very well received by the visitors and we’ll be arranging to record him on site soon for the archive.  The fun swims lived up to their name, with balls and floats in the pool encouraging swimmers of all ages to have a splash around together.  Unfortunately some swimmers were turned away as we had a full pool!

Visitors also took time to chat with the group about the progress of the campaign and we sold plenty of books, postcards, greetings cards and t-shirts.  Along with your generous donations we raised a healthy amount of money to plough back into our campaign and heritage work.

Inspired?  Join us!

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 11th March at Anderton Park Children’s Centre, 7.30pm.  We shall be gearing up for local elections, assessing what the likely scenarios are for the building post-election and planning more events.  Bring your ideas and enthusiasm!  Meetings are open to all and the venue is wheelchair accessible.

Hunted

The day also featured on BBC Radio WM’s ‘Hunted’ show, with listeners following clues to find clues hidden in the building.  Could you have guessed?  You can Listen Again by clicking here: The clue hunting begins at around 55m, the section at Moseley Road Baths starts a 1hr 29mins.

Some special thank yous

Thanks are due to all of you who took time out of their weekend to volunteer – giving tours, pouring drinks, counting swimmers, giving directions, manning stalls.  Without your efforts yesterday’s event simply would not have taken place.

As always we also wish to thank the staff at Moseley Road Baths for being so accommodating.  Year on year they work with the building’s closure looming over their heads as things gradually fall into increased disrepair.  Their commitment ensures that people keep coming back.

Yet another group have seen the potential of the Gala Pool as a location for filming.  Whilst the Council think that the only potential for the building is as a home for pigeons, others are desperate to get in and get filming.  This was the e-mail we received from the band.

‘I thought you may be interested to know that a fantastic pop video has just been released. The venue for the shoot was Moseley Road Baths.

You can see the result here:

Jerin Micheal was recently named as NME’s Young Photographer of the Year and was invited to direct his first pop video for Coventry band ‘The Ellipsis’. Jerin was thrilled to discover your magnificent venue for the shoot. He said “It’s in a pretty poor state now but you can still sense the former glory and historical beauty. I took some photographs and told the band about it. As soon as they saw it they fell in love with it and we decided that it would be perfect place to shoot for the video for Wasted Potential Me.”

The Ellipsis are one of Coventry’s most exciting young bands who set themselves apart from other groups by the sheer quality of their songs. One of their songs, ‘White Feather’ was heard by BBC CW and was played by Brody Swain who said, “I heard it once and couldn’t get the tune out of my head”. He later featured The Ellipsis as ‘ones to watch for 2014’, ‘Band of the Month’ and invited them to play at The Wychwood Festival.

The shoot for Wasted Potential Me was done with the full permission and co-operation of Birmingham City Council and the wonderful, dedicated staff at the baths. The band and the crew spent a great day there and are all saddened to think that the building may not saved for future generations to enjoy. It is a very special place with enormous potential.

Wasted Potential Me is released on January 23rd and will be available to download on iTunes, Google Play and Nokia Mix Radio.
Jerin’s video will be available to view on YouTube
The story of the making of the video is being featured on BBC CW on Friday morning (23rd) and in The Hinckley Times w/c 26th Jan.

We’ll be back in the tearoom for our next meeting on Thursday 11 Dec at 7pm.  We have recently learnt that the Baths is now due to close for swimming in January 2016 rather than September 2015, due to delays with rebuilding Sparkhill.  With a year of campaigning ahead of us we’ll be looking to form a plan of action and galvanise supporters to ensure that the doors don’t close for the final time in 12 months time.

As agreed at the last Friends meeting three of us met with Cllr Holbrook the newly appointed Cabinet member for Skills, Learning and Culture.  We hoped that she would be able to update the group on progress made since the previous meeting with the Council.  In particular we hoped for a report back on the work of Council Officers in pulling together a working group from both within the Council and relevant external bodies to look at future possibilities for the building.

Jenny Austin, Joe Holyoak and Mark Gunton raised various points. This included seeing the Baths as part of the overall development plans for Moseley Road, and the negative effect a closed up building would have in the area. We also asked for an update on the proposed rebuild at Sparkhill Baths, but no information was available. We pushed the importance of the Heritage aspects of the building, trying to encourage interest in the national ‘Historic Pools Network’, and asked Councillors to attend some of the many arts events taking place at the Baths over the next few weeks.

Cllr Holbrook repeats what we have heard from all the Councillors: swimming is not viable at Moseley Road Baths, it is not part of the Council Leisure plans. Cllr Holbrook understands the historic importance of the Pool but uses a familiar argument – the money isn’t there. We will meet again but there is no fixed date at present.

This response from the Council after over a year of trying to meet with them to discuss their future plans for the building and address the concerns of swimmers and residents is unacceptable.  Despite meeting after meeting where promises have been made to dedicate Council resources to looking at viable options for the building, there is clearly no movement.  Instead, group members have dedicated their time once again to briefing a Councillor on the basic issues.  With the closure date for the building still earmarked for late next year it is crucial that supporters keep the focus on the building.  You can e-mail Cllr Holbrook directly at Penny.Holbrook@birmingham.gov.uk.

Date of next meeting

Please note change of time and venue!
Thursday 16th October, 7pm – 9pm
Tea Room at the Baths

Forthcoming Moseley Road Baths Talks

All talks are illustrated with digital slides and last approximately 1one hour. There is usually a small admission fee (£2-£3) for non-members of the host organisation.

Copies of our book Pool of Memories – A History of Moseley Road Baths will be on sale at these talks, priced at £12.

Hall Green Local History Society, Hall Green Baptist Church, Stratford Road, Hall Green, Tuesday September 16th 2014 19:30

Family Group, Hodge Hill United Reform Church, Coleshill Road, Hodge Hill, Monday September 29th 2014 19:30

Wythall History Society, Wythall Baptist Church Hall, Chapel Drive, Wythall, Friday, October 31st 2014 19:30

The Harborne Club, 39 Albany Road, Harborne Thursday, November 20th 2014 20:00

Erdington Historical Society, St. Barnabas Church, High Street, Erdington. Monday, January 12th 2015 19:30

Acocks Green Local History Society, Acocks Green Library, Shirley Road, Acocks Green, Tuesday February 10th 2015 14:00

Smethwick Local History Society, Baptist Church, Rawlings Road, Smethwick, Wednesday February 11th 2015 14:00

King’s Norton Local History Society, North Hall, The Saracen’s Head, The Green, King’s Norton, Monday February 23rd 2015 19:30

Heartlands History Group, Nechells Green Community Centre, Melvina Road, Nechells Wednesday, February 25th 2015 11:00

Yardley Conservation Group, The Trust School, St. Edburgh’s Church, Church Road, Yardley, Wednesday March 12th 2015 20:00

North Arden Local History Society, Spencer Lounge, Arden Hall, Water Orton Road, Castle Bromwich, Thursday May 8th 2015 20:00