Love the evocative sound track with this video from Place Prospectors by David Swan
http://youtu.be/bMSeubBtH8c
‘Sink Or Swim’ at Stirchley Baths
Stirchley Baths’ final-stage bid for Lottery funding will be submitted on 17th June 2013. It’s a pivotal moment in the history of the project and of the building itself.
This moment was marked with a fantastic participatory arts event at the Baths on Saturday called ‘Sink Or Swim’, organised by Place Prospectors.
Local people came along to weigh in their support for the project (literally!) and transformed the word ‘Sink’ in balloons into ‘Swim’. Dozens and dozens of balloons were weighed down with a ‘thumbs up’ ceramic weight. Visitors to the event chose a balloon…
and had their ceramic hand weighed in.
A record of the weight was made in a special ledger, which they signed, and their balloon was added to the ‘Swim’ board.
Slowly, over the event, the word ‘Sink’ became ‘Swim’ – genius! – before all of the balloons were popped at the end!
The wonderful Stirchley Shakers cheerleaders added a celebratory feeling to the day…
and well over 200 people visited the event, many sitting on the old bowling green behind Stirchley Baths to have some food.
At the end of the event, the water area even became an impromptu paddling pool!
It was a really wonderful day! Huge thanks to Place Prospectors for creating such a fantastic way for local people to show their support for the Heritage Lottery Fund bid, and especially to everyone who came along on the day.
The HLF bid will be submitted on 17th June, with a decision expected in September…
To see lots more photos from the day click below
‘Sink or Swim’ at Stirchley Baths on 8th June – come and weigh in your support!
Please come along to Stirchley Baths on Saturday 8th June, 11am to 1pm, to ‘weigh in’ your support for the Baths as your community building.
The ‘balloontastic’ community art event – called ‘Sink or Swim’ – is being held on the old bowling green behind Stirchley Baths and ties in with the submission of the final and full bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. It’s called ‘Sink or Swim’ to reflect this pivotal moment in the project’s history and is a Place Prospectors event. You can hear Emma and Jayne on their involvement in the Stirchley Baths project HERE
You can come along to the bowling green between 11am and 1pm to ‘weigh in your interest’ in the Baths as your community building. You’ll be helping to turn ‘sink’ into ‘swim’ using balloons, and will get to take away a custom-made weight for keeps as a memento of the day.
Stirchley Shakers, a newly-formed cheerleading group, will be there, and there will also be balloon modelling and refreshments available.
We’ll get a decision on the Heritage Lottery Fund bid in September. There’s more on what happens when the bid is submitted HERE
Peter Morgan of the Heritage Lottery Fund explains the process for getting the bid in.
Yesterday there was a “stage” meeting about the final and full bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (to be submitted in June 2013). A good few people there who’ve been involved in some area of work creating or supporting the bid. As much as anything it was a chance for the Heritage Lottery Team and the bid team to catch up on progress. The picture is of one half of the meeting.
Afterwards I spent a few minutes with Peter Morgan from the West Midlands team of the Heritage Lottery Fund. He explained how these meetings help – what will happen next and what happens to the bid after the June deadline for submitting.
Peter Evans from the Friends of Stirchley Park
Peter Evans is the chairman of the Friends of Stirchley Park, a group of volunteers working to promote and improve Stirchley Park for the community.
The group has made a number of improvements over the last 12 months, including the planting of five new saplings, new benches and a noticeboard. Community tidy-ups have been held and a piece of graffiti art, known as The Sleeping Child, was also produced with Place Prospectors. Plans are in place to create more.
Peter says the park has always been “the hidden park”. He’d been living in Stirchley for a couple of years before he glimpsed it from the Gyratory – and then assumed it was private land. Thanks to the Friends’ efforts, though, more and more people are using the green space to walk their dogs or just to relax. A group of dog walkers meet in the park every day at 5pm!
The park sits just behind Stirchley Baths and there’s a pathway to it between the Co-op and Farm Foods buildings. The redevelopment of the Baths into a community hub will bring changes, however, with a green area immediately behind the Baths set to become a car park for visitors. There will also be a children’s play area and pathways around to the hub. Peter – although disappointed at the loss of some green space – hopes the community hub will further open up access to Stirchley Park and help to bin the ‘hidden park’ tag forever.
You can follow Stirchley Park on Twitter HERE
