There are 2 Community Table Tennis sessions held in the Main Hall on  Monday 2-3.30pm and Friday afternoons 2-4pm. Just turn up, have fun, get fit – all levels very welcome. Bats and balls provided but recommend you wear trainers. Only £3/session.

There is a also a Coaching session held on a Wednesday evening 7-8.30pm. Cost is £4/adult and £3/child (O12s only)

We also boast a very successful Stirchley Baths Table Tennis Club with 4 teams playing in the local Birmingham and Solihull leagues with a Club night held on a Monday evening.

Follow the club on Facebook @StirchleyBathsTableTennisClub

One of the great success stories at Stirchley Baths has been the development of community table tennis  since 2016, starting with a couple of tables and now with five tables – Community Sessions run on  Mondays 2-3.30pm and Fridays 2-4pm. These are open to adults at all levels and only cost £2/session. The sessions are very sociable and new members are always welcome. Thank you to Matt and Linda who are the volunteer leaders for the sessions.

The next step – In 2019  a few casual players decided they would like to have a go at playing more competitively so Stirchley Baths Table Tennis Club was formed and a team  entered into the local Birmingham league. Unfortunately the first season was interrupted by Covid but in the year following lockdown the club won the 22/23 Division 4 and were promoted- a great achievement for a new club! For the 23/4 Winter season the club progressed to having entering 2 teams – Division 2 and Division 3 – both consolidated their position plus Noel Dias was awarded the trophy for best stats in Division 3 at the League AGM in July – well done Noel! The club has also been successful with 2 grants enabling more equipment and 2 match tables to be purchased, as well as running Coaching Sessions on a Wednesday evening.

Carrying on the progression 2 teams have been playing in the Summer League this year and it is hoped to enter 3 teams into the 24/5 Winter Leagues.

Club Night is run on a Monday evening 7.30-9pm for team members.

If interested or for more information contact Karen Cheney – karen.l.cheney@gmail.com

A concert of musical favourites; ‘The music that made us; the music we made’

Tickets available at Stirchley Baths or reserve at: singingforjoy2018@gmail.com

Click on the above pages to open the newsletter  and have a read of some of the great opportunities and activities for over 50s that take place here at Stirchley Baths and find out a bit more about Ageing Better funded Selly Oak Constituency Neighbourhood Network Scheme.

You may also want to take a look at the Birmingham NNS blog site https://brumnns.wordpress.com

or www.birmingham.connecttosupport.org

The community heritage aspect of Stirchley Baths  Community Hub is written through the Memory Café like a stick of rock. Past sessions have included using the building and the themes associated with it as conversation starters; such as swimming, dancing, work and industry. This particular session was about memories of the seaside and holidays. A large table was set up in the centre of the room, with artefacts from the seaside bought in by visitors and carers alike, trays full of seashells, picture postcards, and more memories besides. The music of Reginald Dixon, the organist at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom from 1930-1970, played over the speakers in the room, interspersed with sea shanties such as “Sounds of the Sea (Bobbing Up And Down Like This), music hall favourites and 50s and 60s rock and roll numbers putting memories back to dance events on the pier.

Users and staff from both the Andrew Cohen House in Stirchley and the Juniper Centre at Moseley Hall Hospital joined regular families sitting round the table, along with a number of Stirchley Baths volunteers. The organisers of the event, Rachel and Carla, were particularly pleased that it was a very busy morning at the Café, all in all there were approximately 20 people in the Cinema Room.

I got speaking to a gentleman called Martin, who was there with his father Brian. Martin had made excellent use of the Cinema Room’s resources and had made a slideshow consisting of old holiday snaps that his father had taken of them on holiday in Saundersfoot, North Wales in the 50s, and in turn as a grandfather with Martin and his family.

Martin had heard of the Memory Café from an occupational therapist in Moseley, and had accompanied his father to every single session since the Café started. What he particularly liked about the space was that it was more than suitable for both carer and parent, with lots of activities for them both to get stuck into, or just a pleasant place to sit and have a chat.

He explained to me that whilst people with Alzheimer’s have weak new memories, the old memories are stronger, and sessions at the Café strengthen the old memories whilst using art and creativity as therapy.

Whilst speaking to Martin I noticed that the users were getting ready to take part in an activity, where they would mimic the waves of the sea by joining together in a circle and billowing a large blue sheet in the air. There was a lot of laughter and happiness between these friends old and new, and soon after that they were all sitting down again, enjoying a nice cup of tea and a biscuit.

I got speaking to Aileen, one of the NHS staff from the Juniper Centre, who had attended with one of her clients, Margaret. Margaret told me about her memories of camping at Saundersfoot, which had been triggered by the slideshow that Martin had presented earlier. Aileen told me how much Margaret was enjoying the session at the Café, as at the Juniper Centre they also engage the residents with a range of arts including creative writing, pottery, cooking and other activities designed to evoke memories.

Also present were some of the ladies from Creative Reminiscence group, which also meets at Stirchley Baths. Creative Reminiscence is a National Lottery Award For All project that promotes arts for wellbeing and socialisation within the community. I sat with Pat, one of the lead volunteers from the group, who had come in extra early on that day to help set up the wealth of activities.

The visitors had started painting a ‘face-in-hole’ seaside board, taking turns to fill in the polka-dot bathing costumes, the yellow sands and the perfect blue skies. I left the Café that morning mindful of the fact that I hadn’t spoken to everybody that I had wanted to, but there had been so much to do and see, for everyone there, that it didn’t matter.

***

More news to be announced  soon on when the next Memory Café session is taking place.

Later the morning switched to feedback from a range of projects which had support from the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership Small Grants fund.

• Emma Woolf on the Junior Rangers from Friends of Cotteridge Park
• Sheila Hall on Allen’s Cross Active Kids 
• Ian Barber on the Freedom Programme from All Saints Youth Project.
• Jayne Cresswell of SWEET Project’s work on Dementia plus Dale Legacy and DV Perpertrators
• Eat, Art, Talk from Northfield Arts Forum.
• Phil Beardmore of the Northfield Eco Centre and Cycle South Brum‘s work on Cycling with Autism, Dyspraxia and Hypermobility
• Barry Toon on the Help Desk from Selly Oak Caretaker Society.
• Hannah Brooman of InUnity on their Plan, Help, Do programme.
• Suzanne Carter talked about the Fun Palace run here at Stirchley Baths.
• Birgit Kehrer on the 5 a day work done by Change Kitchen.
• Helen Sephton of the The Food Project.
• Children and Young Person’s Recovery Toolkit  Jacky Mulveen/Donna O’sullivan and Dr Asha Patel of Freedom Project and Innovating Minds.
• Family Film nights Rev Robert Nock of the California Christian centre.
• The Fields Millenium Green – Maggie Sweet
• Who’s My Neighbour –  Gordon Lee/Malachi.

A number of people there talked about what they do and where they do it… simply to help people recognise what’s going on….

What does Springfield Project do?  Listen to Sarah Robbins on youtube.

Birmingham Community Matters runs surgeries to help small community groups and active citizens in the city – as Rhidi Kaleria explains…

Patricia Watson and Angela Field talk about the Brandwood Centre.

Birgit from Change Kitchen CIC Birmingham.

Ann Harkin and Dr Asha Patel of Innovating Minds CIC talk about their work supporting women and children who have experienced or witnessed.  This clip ends with a quite a wide range of how people can get involved – including volunteers.

Subah Rasab is chair of Balsall Heath Forum and talks here about their work.

Rebecca Debenham of the Northfield Community Partnership in South Birmingham on how starting with employment skills give them scope to provide a much wider range of help.

Sheila Hall of Allen’s Cross Community Association Birmingham on why they are their and what they do.

Oli Armstrong from Northfield Arts Forum.

https://youtu.be/8gUhqRjErPE

Helga Edstrom works for the Office for Civil Society – here she talks about finding better ways for funders, public servants and local people to work together.

John Grace recently set up Youth Work Europe in Birmingham, although he is starting in Bartley Green.

We are working with Louise Deakin to develop the sessions here. Louise has set up a popular Memory Cafe at Soho House Museum and knows the history of the Baths and area well. Also joining us is local artist Rachel Duggan from Leaf Creative Arts, who will be running a small creative activity at each Memory Cafe session based around our themes.

Alongside, and as an extension of the Memory Cafe, Rachel will be running a project called Creative Reminiscence which includes a further two creative and inclusive workshops at the Baths each month.
For dates and further information about both new initiatives, please see the details on the posters below.

If you would like to book a place at the Memory Cafe, please contact us by email: hello@stirchleybaths.org or telephone: 0121 4649072.

If you would like to book a place at a Creative Reminiscence Workshop, please contact Rachel directly by phone: 07886 546639 or email: leafcreativearts@gmail.com

Any questions, please contact Rachel from Leaf Creative Arts, or ask for Suzanne Carter, the Community Heritage Coordinator, at Stirchley Baths.

Copies are available (while stocks last) from Stirchley Baths (closed from 19 December), P Cafe (closed from 22 December) and the Co-Op. More leaflets will be available from the New Year, but why not grab yours quick to enjoy over the Christmas break.

NEW GROUP RIDE

Why not join us for a relaxed, enjoyable, led bike ride.

Wednesday Afternoons @ 1.30pm from Stirchley Baths, commencing 1st June 2016

To book one of our FREE bikes or for more information please call 0121 464 1020