Bath Users Turn Back The Clock for Memories Day Event
A resident of Balsall Heath who shares her birthday with the district’s historic Moseley Road Swimming Baths is among numerous people who have contributed their stories and reminiscences to a Memories and Memorabilia day being staged by the Friends of Moseley Road Baths group at Moseley Road Methodist Church, opposite the baths, this Saturday, November 1st from 12:00-4:00pm.
May Allen, who will be 86 on October 30th, exactly 101 years after the baths opened, swam there during the 1940s: “I worked in the office at Dawes Brewery {now the site of Birmingham Central Mosque}. We visited the baths during our lunch hour, swimming made us hungry and we’d cook bacon and eggs when we returned to work. My mother was a dressmaker and I was one of nine children. We had to make do and mend where clothes were concerned and I knitted my own two-piece swimming costume, but it kept slipping down in the water, so that was no good.”
Like many others, May Allen used Moseley Road Baths for much more than just swimming. The ‘slipper’ - or washing baths - were a crucial community asset for those whose homes lacked bathing facilities: ’“We also used the washing baths. The tubs and the taps seemed really big and I remember how the water would gush out of the porcelain bath.”
This was a period when many of Birmingham’s swimming pools were floored over during the winter months and used for such events as billiards, card games, music recitals and dances, as May Allen recalls: “I went to dances at Moseley Road Baths in the 1940s and early 1950s; my husband was a great dancer. The music was provided by local bands. We’d take the No 42 tram along Moseley Road, there were lots of clubs along the street and you’d see all the ladies coming out in their lovely dance frocks.”
The reminiscences of May Allen, and many other bath users both past and present, form the centrepiece of Memories and Memorabilia Day, part of the Friend’s recently launched Pool of Memories project, which aims to record and archive the stories of those who swam, washed, worked, dived or danced at the building.
The day also features an exhibition of the photos, video film, and artefacts (such as swimming certificates, trophies and old costumes) already collected, which visitors will be encouraged to add to by recording their own memories and bringing along their own memorabilia.
Friends of Moseley Road Baths spokeswoman Jen Austin says: “In its 101-year history, Moseley Road Baths has been a hub of the community, playing a part in the lives of almost every Balsall Heathan and plenty more from further afield. The Pool of Memories project, of which this event is merely the beginning, aims to document and record the stories of bath users, allowing us to build a picture of a way of life that was once commonplace to thousands of Birmingham folk.”
Tours of the baths will be offered at 12:30 and 2:30pm. Alternatively, visitors will be able to view the Friends’ recently launched online Virtual Tour (www.moseleyroadbaths.co.uk). In addition, local history organisations and swimming clubs will have stalls and there will be activities for children with a swimming theme.
For more information about the Pool of Memories project and Memories and Memorabilia day, contact Rachel Gillies, Secretary, Friends of Moseley Road Baths: 07967 093 256; or e-mail. FofMRB@googlemail.com To contact May Allen please ring Jen Austin on 0777 609 5885
Friends of Moseley Road Baths
October 28th 2008
Website: www.myspace.com/moseleyrdpool
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