Key dates in the history of Stirchley Baths – can you fill in the gaps?

Paul Raymond Jones wrote a paper on the History of Bournville Lane Baths in 1981. This is a really useful snapshot of history taken from archival records. Can you tell us anything else that went on?

1903 Cadbury’s offered the Urban District Council a piece of land to build a ‘public swimming baths, slipper or spray baths and washhouse’.

1910 Stirchley Baths was opened. At this time Stirchley was a small village and many homes did not have a bathroom, but a tin bath in front of the fire. People would come straight from work to use the slipper baths and get clean before going home.

When the Baths were built there were laws which segregated swimmers and washhouse users by class and by gender. You were either considered to be First Class or Second Class (poorer, working class). Mixed bathing was not allowed until 1927, and then you had to enter and exit the pool by the male or female side.

In August 1911 there were 3,428 second class male ticket sales compared with 39 first class male ticket sales or uses of the swimming pool which shows their importance for ordinary people from the area.

1914-1918 The baths were kept open during the First World War, although with reduced opening hours. Soldiers and refugees could use the baths free of charge.

1922 The baths were closed for seven weeks due to a coal dispute which became a national crisis.

1927 Mixed bathing was introduced and bye laws were changed to ensure that proper bathing costumes of a thick material were worn (to prevent indecent exposure!)

1933 The Assembly Room at the baths was used as a rest room for the unemployed during the winter months.

1939-1940 The baths were closed for swimming during the first two years of World War II and used as a first aid post. They reopened in 1941. People rendered homeless by local bombings were allowed to use the baths free of charge.

Two hot showers were installed during this time due to the number of people during wartime using the baths.

In the 1940s, during the winter months the swimming pool was boarded over to create a dance floor. Bands used to play.

 

1964 The Finnish government presented Stirchley with a sauna suite to promote Finland.

1973 a privately-run Jewish Mikvah opened at Stirchley Baths. A Mikvah consists of a sunken bath which was filled with natural and heated water, in this case rainwater. It allowed for ritual immersion which is part of the Jewish religion.

1977 The washing baths were closed and the sauna suite was expanded to include 6 beds and a TV lounge!

1978 multi-gym was installed in place of the original Finnish sauna.

1988 Closure of baths due to lack of funds to repair the building at a cost of £1m. The ceiling in the ladies’ changing area collapsed.

1998 concerns over the deterioration of the building led to it being listed as Grade II by English Heritage.

2013 Where we are today – applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £1.3m to bring the building back into use, not as a baths, but as a fit-for-purpose community hub.

Final Planning Submission

Displayed above is a copy of the Final Planning Submission of the proposed Site Plan for the Stirchley Baths Project, this along with the proposed Ground Plan pictured below is scheduled to go to Planning Committee on March 7th March 21st.

You can download and view PDFs of the plans below.

Proposed Site Plan (PDF)
Proposed Ground Floor Plan (PDF)

 

 

Community Stakeholder Meeting Notes – part 2 – ideas for the activity plan.

 

Some ideas for involvement from the feedback..(no particular order and not exhaustive)

  • Oral History of activity currently going on – so we can create a record for tomorrow’s history.  Including ensuring this is collected in a more structured way.
  • WW2 Evacuation zone – pool covered – story of that
  • Audio visual displays with snippets from the whole history of the baths.
  • Theatre production – perhaps concentrate on one or two areas e.g. Dance in the 1940’s
  • Stories of the wildlife that occupied the building whilst it was derelict
  • The social importance of the baths when it was first opened – why it mattered to health
  • Heavy petting?
  • Re capture the tile designs
  • All parts of the history are important – I particularly love the fact that people used to cover the pool and dance.
  • Stirchley the musical
  • Changing identity of Stirchley – including Hazelwell swallowed up by Bournville
  • Kings Norton and Northfield UDC
  • Donation of the site by Cadbury in 1903 and history of Corporate Philanthropy
  • Nudists had one evening a week for skinny dipping –  (we think it was Tuesday)
  • Interactive map of activities you can do at the community centre to encourage people to get involved
  • Can the original oak kiosk be restored?
  • Verrucas!

 

Community Stakeholder Meeting Notes – part 1

Where:  Stirchley Community Centre.

When: 6.30pm – Feb 13th 2013.

Part one was general update before part two – an exercise for the activity plan.   These are rough notes from the first part of the meeting:

The group introduced themselves – some key facts reported by Karen Cheney

Planning application for the bath’s development will go to the Birmingham City Council planning ctte on 7th March

Next for the Heritage Lottery Fund is the second stage bid – which will also require an activity plan, covering activity which will support the heritage side of the work during the build and afterwards.  Suzanne Carter from Birmingham Conservation Trust will work with Chris Rice from Birmingham Museums Trust to create the plan.

It was reported that the stage two bid needs item to be as strong as possible – so currently aiming for June to submit the bid.

Suzanne Carter explained:

Activity plan is a report which covers all the activity that the Heritage Lottery Fund which isn’t building work.  It’s the work that involves people in history and heritage.  Suzanne will be talking to lots of people in the community to help her create the planning and is focused on what people can learn about the history of the baths – how to bring it alive.  It can also involve plans to train people in conservation skills and hands on experience of heritage work.  this will also focus on how people get involved in making decisions about heritage in the area.

3 important roles for the plan

  • to demonstrate that local people love the building and want it back in some form of use
  • demonstrates that people are interested
  • demonstrate that there is an interest in developing the heritage plan.

Nick Booth outlined the use of this new website to capture news of the project,  stories from the baths and the community centre and how people are getting involved with the activity plan.

Chris Rice said  that the reason the project got a stage one HLF bid was because of local people’s enthusiasm and ‘agitation’.  A successful stage two bid is not a given – so the work and enthusiasm from here on in really helps the bid for the money for construction.

A discussion about timing – including frustration/argument about delays.  A further point made about how long the preparation for the project has gone on –  and how important that stage two of HLF bid will provide the money to get the work started.  When was it actually closed: 5th March 1988 –  so 25 years since it was closed, with 12 years of planning to get something to this stage.

A query about finding archives from the central library on the history of the baths – might that be found in Birmingham Central Library or  Cadbury Archives or Worcester?

7.15 pm onto Part two, Suzanne Carter led on ideas for the activity plan… (see separate notes)