Was the Palais Glide a popular dance at Stirchley Baths?

Palais GlideYou may remember last week I blogged about the ideas generating sessions we have been doing with young Stirchley-ites around the history and heritage-related activities that might be possible at the Baths.

One of the ideas they came up with is for an intergenerational dance-themed project where older Stirchley residents could teach them dances of the 1940s, as illustrated in the wonderful pictures we have of Den Jones at Stirchley Baths, and the teenagers pass on these skills to school children – sounds like the making of a great community showcase event somewhere down the line! The members of the Tea Dance at Stirchley Community Centre I spoke with today are certainly up for the challenge!

I was a bit cheeky earlier and asked if I could film a dance that would have probably graced the floorboards of the covered pool back in the 1940s. John was more than happy to volunteer the services of the Tea Dance members who gave us a wonderful demonstration of the Palais Glide. Watch them in action:

(Apologies for another low budget movie)! We had a great afternoon at Stirchley Community Centre, where we were running our second Splash Back in Time reminiscence event.

Coming up in the next week or so you’ll hear a few stories of people dancing at the Baths. Massive thank you to John and the members of the Tea Dance for being such good sports today!

More photos of Stirchley Baths – thanks to Brenda Thomas

You can see the stained glass diamond windows
You can see the stained glass diamond windows

Thanks to Brenda Thomas for these great pictures of Stirchley Baths. Brenda is in charge of the photographic archive of Stirchley Community Group and is uncovering some wonderful snapshots of the building’s history. We hope to share more with you soon.

If any of these pictures trigger stories or memories, please get in touch! Email stirchleybaths@gmail.com – use our Facebook page here or tell us about them on Twitter using @stirchleybaths or #stirchleybaths

The deep end and the palm tree mural
The deep end and the palm tree mural

boiler Co. Stirchley Baths groupDen Jones Band Co. Stirchley Community Group

During the winter months in the 1940s, the swimming pool at Stirchley Baths was boarded over to create a dance floor and bands used to play. More photographs HERE.

Do you know what this building was used for? Brenda believes it was to store the wooden dance floor boards
Do you know what this building was used for? Brenda believes it was to store the wooden dance floor boards

 

Paula Aubrey: Why I’m involved in the Stirchley Baths project

Paula Aubrey joined Stirchley Community Group over 20 years ago to get involved in the village’s community centre and she’s been hoping to see Stirchley Baths brought back into use for the community for quite some time. Paula is a member of the Stirchley Baths community stakeholder group. Here she explains why…

Brenda Thomas: Why I’m involved in the Stirchley Baths project

Brenda Thomas has been a stalwart of the Stirchley community for decades. She set up the Stirchley Tuesday Youth Club in the 1970s and was instrumental in the building of the village’s existing community centre in Pershore Road. Brenda is a member of the Stirchley Baths community stakeholder group. Here she explains why…

Click HERE to find out more about Brenda and the Stirchley Tuesday Youth Club

A night out at the Baths!

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.