Decision due on Stirchley Baths. Tell us why it has to be ‘yes’!

People were in no doubt that the Stirchley Baths HLF bid should swim, not sink, at a wonderful summer event

A decision on the Stirchley Baths Heritage Lottery fund bid is expected very soon. The West Midlands committee of the HLF met earlier this week to consider the bid to transform Stirchley Baths into a thriving community hub for local people and their decision is imminent.

Thanks to everyone who has been involved in the project and supported the HLF bid in whatever way. Now it’s crunch time – and the Stirchley Baths project has to swim!

Please tell us why the HLF decision *has* to be a ‘yes’ by:

Leaving a comment here on the website
Sending an email to stirchleybaths@gmail.com
Tweeting us a message @stirchleybaths
Leaving a comment on our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/StirchleyBaths

The whole Stirchley community got behind the bid, creating a show of hands around the baths in April and culminating in a fantastic ‘Sink or Swim’ event in June where local people weighed in their support for a ‘yes’.

June 22, 2013

Stirchley Baths Sink or Swim video

Love the evocative sound track with this video from Place Prospectors by David Swan

https://youtu.be/bMSeubBtH8c

June 9, 2013

‘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

May 14, 2013

‘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.

Jayne Murray

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.

listen to ‘Jayne Murray on ‘Sink or Swim’ at Stirchley Baths on 8th June 2013 ’ on Audioboo

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

May 3, 2013

Peter Morgan of the Heritage Lottery Fund explains the process for getting the bid in.

Half the meeting

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.

listen to ‘Peter Morgan from the heritage lottery fund on the process for bidding ’ on Audioboo

The “stage” meeting help clarify that the bid writing and community engagement process is on track. It helps everyone focus on creating the best quality bid.

Once submitted in June the bid will be assigned an officer who will read is and write a report

The report will be checked for quality within the system then submitted to the ctte for decision

The ctte read the report and are given a presentation by the officer. They then decide based on this information and other bids in that month. Ctte members are volunteers.