Shortly before Christmas the Hall Green Constituency meeting took place, with its main aim being to find a way to cut the constituency’s budget by £1m in order to help balance the books. As part of this several points were raised which will affect Moseley Road Baths. We should know more about these when we meet with Cllr Martin Mullaney, the Cabinet member for Sport, Leisure and Culture this coming Thursday.
The first point relates to maintenance work which has taken place over the Christmas period. It is hoped that the short-term closure of the holidays will stop water leakages from Pool 2, resulting in £30,000 savings per year in water and heating costs. Additional changing facilities will also be installed, thanks to the fundraising efforts of Philip Morris who hit the news a few weeks back!
Secondly, opening hours for public swimming will be reduced and replaced with extra time for club and group swimming (overall opening times will remain the same). The changes will mainly affect the latter part of the day. Brett Willers, the Constituency Director, claimed that there is significant unmet demand for group swimming, but acknowledged that the reason for the change was because groups and clubs pay to swim whereas most individuals currently swim for free. We have expressed concern at this decrease in public swimming and will be speaking to Cllr Mullaney about this on Thursday. In the meantime, we urge everyone to ring ahead of their visit (0121 464 0150) to check for timetable changes.
Finally, we are still awaiting the official announcement on a consultant’s report into re-opening the Gala Pool. However, we have learnt that it recommends that there should be an initial expenditure of £300,000 to make the building ‘watertight’ with an investment of £9m in 2011 or 2012 to reopen the pool, with the work only commencing once Sparkhill has been reopened. This is much less than some of the claims made in the press and is comparable with the cost of building a new facility. We’ll hopefully have more information in the next week or so. Watch this space…
An 82-year old swimmer is to undertake a dip at historic Moseley Road Baths in Balsall Heath to raise money to help upgrade changing facilities at the Grade II* Listed building. Philip Morris, who now lives in Stratford-upon-Avon, last swam at Moseley Road Baths in 1934 when he was a pupil at nearby Tindal Street School.
The event is being supported by the Friends of Moseley Road Baths and members of the group will be in attendance on the day to help verify that Mr. Morris has covered the stated distance. Spokesperson Jen Austin says: “The fact that Philip is prepared to undertake this swim shows the strength of feeling and goodwill that exists towards this fine old building. The money raised will be really appreciated by the local community, as with the city council’s ‘Swim For Free’ scheme’ and an increasing demand for pool time from schools, there is great pressure on the existing changing facilities at Moseley Road Baths.”