Tag: Birmingham

Petition for more Women Only swim sessions

You can now sign an online petition to request that Birmingham City Council increase women only provision at Swimming Pools across the city.

The Facebook Group is also a good place to chat about the issue. One comment in particular highlights the problem with the current timetables:

Tired and fed up i wrote to my MP back in January 2010. He wrote to the head of Sports and Events at Birmingham City Council in order to enquire further. The reply I got was a list of women’s only swimming / gym sessions….along with appreciat…ion that my issue had highlighted the birmingham website needed amendment to it to include ‘women only’ session. The website has slightly altered, but this does not change the fact that the demand is still there and NOTHING has been done about it!! Cocksmoor and Erdington can’t even guarantee female lifeguards….Small heath – u have to get there an hour before the swim starts in order to get a ticket, and unfortuantely they have no capacity to increase the women’s classes! Not a happy bunny : (

More women only swimming sessions needed

For a long time our group has discussed the need for more swimming provision at Moseley Road Baths in order to meet demand.  My own experience of working at the pool was that many people were frustrated that so many sessions were shared use (lane swimming and kids’ Strokes lessons, or public swims during school sessions).  It’s clear that both pools need to be opened in order to meet demand.

One group of users in particular regularly find themselves queuing to use the pool.  Many women across the city come to Moseley Road Baths for the Women Only swimming sessions.  The reasons for attending these sessions are as varied as the women who attend – modesty, cultural reasons, self-consciousness, a space to socialise with other women – to name but a few reasons.  It is apparent that these sessions are needed, and for many women and girls, it can mean the difference between regularly swimming or not doing any exercise at all.  As such, these sessions need to be encouraged throughout the city.

Moseley Road Baths are popular as the pool doors can be closed to the general public, and the cubicles around the side of the pool make the walk from changing to swimming so short.  However, the current timetable cannot meet the demand and many sessions are too busy.  The sessions are also held in the evening, excluding many women and girls who would prefer to use the pool earlier in the day – particularly important for women with children.  Some swimmers also prefer female lifeguards, which cannot always be guaranteed.

In response to this a Facebook Group has been set up, requesting more Women Only swim sessions throughout Birmingham to meet demand.  If you use Facebook then get involved in the discussion here. We would also invite people who feel passionately about the need for more Women Only swim sessions to add a comment on this blogpost, or e-mail us with your comments.  This all helps the Friends of Moseley Road Baths to make the case for two fully functioning community pools!

Abandoned

The Guardian put out a request for readers’ photos on the theme ‘derelict’ last week. The result was a collection of some of the most heartbreaking pictures of buildings which are a shadow of their former glory.

Amongst the pictures was a photo from Emma Jones (editorialgirl) of the Gala Pool at Moseley Road Baths which you can view on the Guardian’s site.  The article incorrectly describes the swimming pool as abandoned (there is another fully functioning pool on site), but it’s not difficult to see why they drew that conclusion.  I’m not sure how I feel about it: the pool is absolutely gorgeous, even in its present state, and I think that the more publicity the building has the better, but it’s absolutely shameful that such a building remains in the ownership of Birmingham City Council in such a state.  I feel embarrassed that my local pool should so frequently be on ‘most endangered’ and ‘most neglected’ lists, but it seems that our local politicians share no such concern.  Their silence over the past few months has been deafening.

The current state of play is that we have been presented with some three year old figures for the full refurbishment of the Gala Pool (estimated cost, £9m), but it has been made clear that this possible work is tied in with the future of Sparkhill Baths, which will be rebuilt on the current site.  Whilst that is decided Moseley Road Baths is in a continuing state of decline, with urgent work required to make the building watertight.  We took the volunteers from our Pool of Memories Project around the building a few weeks ago (more on that later!), and we were all shocked at just how bad the first floor flat is looking.

So, if you share our despair, think about dropping some of the local councillors a line and asking them what they plan to do in the immediate future to preserve Moseley Road Baths.

Martin.Mullaney@birmingham.gov.uk – Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture

Sparkbrook Councillors
Salma.Yaqoob@birmingham.gov.uk
Mohammed.Ishtiaq@birmingham.gov.uk
Shokat.Ali@birmingham.gov.uk

Better still, consider attending one of their Advice Surgeries.  Let us know how you get on!

Another view of Moseley Road Baths

We’re getting more and more interest in Moseley Road Baths from people who have been inspired by the building to do interesting and creative stuff. Alex Gamela came along to our Memories and Memorabilia Day last year and gathered a fair bit of footage and photography. He’s used it to create a Flash website which gives a really lovely view of the building, as well as providing lots of background information on the history of the baths. Have a look at the site here – but remember that you will need Flash installed.  Enjoy!

Notice of AGM

We now have quite a number of people signed up for the Oral History Training session tomorrow. I’ve been sending messages back and forth to our trainer, Cynthia, and it’s looking really exciting! I believe that there may be a bit of space left, so if you do want to get involved then let us know ASAP.

Thanks to those of you who have been in touch to volunteer in other ways. We WILL be getting in touch with you, we’re just getting everything organised at the moment!

And finally, our AGM has come round again. This year we would like to invite friends and supporters along to help us celebrate our ‘Pool of Memories’ project – receiving so much funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund really is reason to party! We’ll be putting on some light refreshments, reviewing the past year’s work and of course re-electing officers and making sure our finances are ship-shape. Please get in touch if you want to join us so we know how many to cater for!

The details are:

2pm, Sunday 11th April 2010 at Anderton Park School.

Mini history lessons

I’ve just come from a stall in Balsall Heath Library where we spent about half an hour talking with a group of young girls (amongst others) about Moseley Road Baths. To me, that chat really illustrated the importance of our Pool of Memories project.

Almost all of the girls attend Heath Mount Primary School, one of the schools still able to swim at the pool regularly. It’s clear that they love the building, and they all spoke animatedly about it. They were also all curious – about where the stairs lead to, about why the Gala Pool is closed, and why people used to have baths there.

We looked through the pictures in the excellent ‘Great Lengths’ book at pools around the country, and the conversation veered from pools in London and Sharm-el-Sheik to the Victorians and the Second World War.

The fact is that Moseley Road Baths gets people excited. It may be its beauty, it may be a particular memory, or it may be just one of the many stories of events that have happened within its walls. Today was one of those days when I feel immensely proud of this gem that sits on my doorstep, and excited by the curiosity that people of all ages have about the building.  If that’s not what ‘civic pride’ is about I don’t know what is…

Volunteer for Pool of Memories

Would you like to interview members of the public about their memories of swimming, bathing, socialising and working at Moseley Road Baths?  As part of our Heritage Lottery Fund ‘Pool of Memories’ project we are calling on volunteers to help us in our three year quest to find the best memories of the building.  Your interviews may form part of a book, teaching resource, DVD, permanent exhibition and drama project.We are holding a FREE all-day training event on Saturday 13th March at Moseley Exchange (situated behind Moseley Post Office).  You will get opportunity to learn more about the Pool of Memories Project and receive training from the Oral History Society.

Here is a filmed interview from our memories day back in 2008.  Gerard White talks about the teadances that took place at ‘Moseley Road Ballrooms’ during the war, when the Gala Pool was covered over for the duration of the winter.  He talks particularly about the impact of American GIs on the dance floor!

There are only twelve places on the training day, so we will be allocating places on a first-come, first-served basis and only for people who can dedicate time to volunteer for the Pool of Memories Project.  Please contact us on memories@friendsofmrb.co.uk or ring Jen Austin on 07776 095 885 to reserve a place.

Programme

10.00-10.15 Welcome and introductions

10.15-11.15 What is oral history?: understanding memory

11.15-11.30 Coffee

11.30-1.00 Getting started: aims and objectives, who to interview, question approaches

1.00-2.00 Lunch

2.00-2.30 Practical work: an introduction to recording equipment

2.30-3.30 The interview: do’s and don’ts

3.30-3.45 Tea

3.45-4.30 Practical work: interviewing

4.30-5.00 Evaluation of practical work

5.00-5.30 After the interview: summarising, transcription, copyright, archiving

Pool of Memories launched!

Our three year Heritage Lottery Funded ‘Pool of Memories‘ project is now officially underway!  We had our launch last week at Balsall Heath Library.  As always it’s lovely chatting with people about the project, so it was lovely to share some of the information, photos and films we’ve collected so far and to enthuse others about what we plan to achieve!

Thanks to everyone who joined us, we’ll be putting up a post soon about how you can get involved with volunteering to collect Oral Histories and receive free training to go out into the community and interview members of the public.  If you are interested in this or any other aspect of the Pool of Memories project then you can now e-mail us on the project’s own e-mail address, memories@friendsofmrb.co.uk.

Huge thanks to the librarians at Balsall Heath Library for hosting us.  Oh, and on that note, members of Friends of Moseley Road Baths will be at Balsall Heath Library on the afternoon of Saturday, 6th March to chat with library-goers about the project.  Pop in and see us!

No water, but going swimmingly

We’re really pleased to share the news that the Swimming Without Water exhibition will be going ahead, starting next week.

The collective of artists will be using the currently unused Gala Pool at Moseley Road Baths to display their artwork.  (Apologies, we’ve just found out that it’s actually going to be in the area directly outside the Gala Pool!) Their aim is to bring together their contemporary artwork with the space and the audience to create a unique experience.

‘The artists, Debby Akam, Flora Gare and Tim Skinner, are working to bind their works with this glorious historic building, to re-enliven it; to repopulate it through an engagement with the building and the audience (swimmers and non-swimmers from Moseley Road and beyond) through the medium of art.’

The exhibition begins on 18th February and will run until 15th March.  All are welcome – a great chance to experience some interesting new art as well as step through the doors of Moseley Road Bath’s much-loved Gala Pool after years of closure.

Let us know your thoughts!