Great day at Stirchley Library and outside the baths today; collecting hands, community support and ideas about how we present ‘the heritage of the baths’ to people. Amazing turnout! We estimate we engaged with over 200 people – and a huge thanks to everyone who came along today – we doubled the amount of hands we have already collected! The official count is 282 hands!
Such evidence that local people want to see the building restored and brought back into use. I especially love the conversation I had with an 8 year old who told me they walked past the building everyday and felt cheated she didn’t know what was inside – hopefully you will soon!
A huge and massive thank you to the volunteers who helped us make this day a very special one, including from Stirchley Baths Community Stakeholders Group: Sue Jackson, Jess Allan and Brenda Thomas; and from Birmingham Conservation Trust: Julian Cleaver, Louise Deakin, Rachel Hoeshan and Jane Baker. A big thank you also to Mukesh, local Stirchley resident, who was passing by on his way back from The Coop at 9.30 and offered to help us put the washing line up! He stayed and helped out until lunchtime. Talk about community spirit!
After I have typed up all the comments on the hands, we will be putting them into Stirchley Library – so you will get a chance to see what people have said. Matthew, working for Podnosh, has also collected some great interviews for this site, so watch this space!
Final thank you for today is for the wonderful staff at Stirchley Library who were fabulous hosts (and sorry for all the glitter left on the carpet!)
Looks an amazing building and truly hope you are successful. Its always important those who look after our towns and cities that buildings are just not mere bricks and mortar. Buildings shape our societies, our culture and our shared histories and importantly inform us about our futures. All the very best with the campaign and project and will certainly follow your progress.
It was great to see local folk of all ages enthusiastic about getting the refurb done! One thing I wanted to add,was that throughout the day because of the one way system, traffic was going through really too fast,and people pulling out of the side road Bourneville lane were having to accelerate too quickly ..with the Tesco project round the corner there should be some pressure for traffic calming either side of the Baths site.