Karen Cheney is the Service Integration Head for Selly Oak District, based at the district offices in Pershore Road.
Karen is heavily involved in the project to bring the building back into use as a community hub. She says it’s been a long and complicated process but that, with a successful Heritage Lottery Fund bid (we’ll get the decision in September), this exciting project will be up and running.
Karen also speaks in the interview of the importance of local people getting involved in the project – not just for the HLF bid but for the future sustainability of the community hub.
Great news today – the plans for Stirchley Baths have been approved by Birmingham City Council’s planning committee!
There’s still some way to go (a successful Heritage Lottery Fund bid) before work can start on transforming the building into a community hub, but planning permission is a huge step in the journey.
Here are the remaining key milestones in the project:
Until April 2013: development of the Stage 2 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid
June 2013: Our HLF bid for £1.3 million will be submitted
September 2013: HLF decision
And if successful…
October 2013: A three-year programme of heritage and history-related activities gets under way
October/November 2013: Building work starts on site
October/November 2014: Stirchley Baths community hub opens
Now we have planning permission we really need to show the Heritage Lottery Fund that the community is behind the project.
We have a great event on Saturday 6th April where you can physically back the bid by taking part in a community art challenge at Stirchley library…
And please get in touch to share your memories of the Baths, and if you have ideas or want to get involved in shaping the heritage and history-related activity plan, which aims to celebrate the building’s past while looking to its future.
Get in touch by emailing stirchleybaths@gmail.com or using Facebook or Twitter
Here are the plans for the community hub:
Stirchley Baths Proposed Site PlanStirchley Baths Proposed Ground Plan
If you were out and about around the Baths or Stirchley Park on Wednesday between 7 and 8.30 you may have seen (certainly heard?) a group of 18 young people on a youth club evening out to…. Stirchley Baths!
The previous week I met 11 of the young people up at the Den Youth House in Dawberry Road where we talked about possible history and heritage-related activities that they might be interested in getting involved with as part of the restoration project.
On Wednesday, armed with flip cams, they interviewed each other talking about the Baths. Here is some very rough and ready footage – busy roads, lots of excitement – but some useful insight into how these young people view the Baths.
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The girls were really interested in the black and white pictures of the dancing taken in the 1940s and came up with the idea of organising a night of dancing back at the Baths – for the community! It was great to see them talking about this on camera; about how they would enjoy talking to the older generation about the kind of dances they would have done there – and even learning some moves, and teaching older people some of their own!
Brian and Rowena from the Friends of Stirchley Park joined us to talk to the young people about possible future graffiti art work in the park which illustrated the history of Stirchley, including the baths. and we asked for a hands up who would like to be involved if the money can be raised? And that would be everyone then!
A massive thank you to youth workers Stuart and Martin for rallying up these brilliant young Stirchley-ites and thanks to everyone for their contributions.
Great news that Emma and Jayne from Place Prospectus have been asked to contribute to this round 2 Heritage Lottery funded development phase.
They are taking as a starting point the ceremonial key which was featured in their vision document of March 2012, marking the end of Stirchley Prospects. Neil sent us a great image of the key the other day as well.
Jayne says “The key seemed to be an important symbol of business, community and government working together at the turn of the century.Over the next week or so Emma and I will be out and about gathering information so that we can develop our ideas. This will result in a temporary visual artwork and help shape something that can be permanently displayed in the building”.
All sounds very intriguing…
See below Place Prospector’s vision document (Vision_doc_innerfinal (1)) and (Vision_doc_frontfinal (1)), which is a nice visual summary of the work they have been doing with the Stirchley community. It also features the coaster they made from an advertisement for the baths which is featured above. I hope they have got some left – wouldn’t mind one for myself!
Suzanne Carter – who is compiling the Activity Plan for the Heritage Lottery Fund bid for the Stirchley Baths Project – has been invited to speak at the Stirchley Neighbourhood Forum on Monday 11 March, 7.30pm.
Even if you are not a regular attender of the Forum, you are welcome to come along and give your ideas and suggestions about the history and heritage-related activities we can ask the HLF to pay for as part of the heritage restoration project. Details below:
