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Monument Road Baths, Ladywood.

N

Normb

New Member
At long last a new baths is being built on the same site as the former Monument Road Baths. 'Ladywood Leisure Centre', as it will be called should be complete by around September time. To commemorate the opening Ladywood History Group is hoping to produce a booklet about the history of the baths. If you have any memories, photos etc that you'd like to send for possible inclusion in the publication please get in touch. (school lessons, washing baths, swimming baths, café, special events, Olympic swimmers, closure and demolition etc)
Norman
 
Normb said:
At long last a new baths is being built on the same site as the former Monument Road Baths. 'Ladywood Leisure Centre', as it will be called should be complete by around September time. To commemorate the opening Ladywood History Group is hoping to produce a booklet about the history of the baths. If you have any memories, photos etc that you'd like to send for possible inclusion in the publication please get in touch. (school lessons, washing baths, swimming baths, café, special events, Olympic swimmers, closure and demolition etc)
Norman
Click to expand...

Hi Normb welcome to the site , I used to go to Monument Rd baths with my mates in the school holidays , and a day during the week with St Peters RC School , the only memorable day with school was it was pouring down of rain this one day,wet going in wetter still inside , then back to school wet again, it was a bit of a chore for me in the baths as I couldn't swim . The only consolation walking back to school from Monument Road to almost Broad St was a stick of hard liquorice as I wiped the rain out of my eyes. School holidays were different whatever the weather we'd set off with our swimming trunks rolled up in our towel under our arms , on the way to the baths we were either cowboys, aircraft pilots, sword fighters , then again we might decide to track one of the lads . Playing all of the way to and from the baths was more or less on pecks ground left after buildings had been demolished down Ladywood Road. Reaching the baths after getting changed in the cubicles , we went down give your feet a quick shower with cold water brrrr , then into the pool , things were better now I had learnt to swim , running along the sides then knees tucked into your stomach feet up splash it was called a bomb. Water everywhere you could get sent out of the pool if you were caught bombing , swimming underwater like Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt on the telly, after your forty or so minutes up to the cafe Oxo or Hot chocolate whats it going to be today ? Hot chocolate and a packet of cheesettes please , get that down you , we were ready for anything on the way home wet hair still . Shall we get on our horses or motorbikes to get home quicker ? motorbikes ok brmmmmmmmmmmm brmmmmmmm running all the way back up Ladywood Rd , just before we went in what shall we do tomorrow , go the park yeh
 
Great reply. Thanks. I had to google 'Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt' though. Lloyd Bridges, I remember him from Airplane.
 
Crowd of us used to go to the baths during our lunch breaks when I worked in Ryland street back in the early sixties. Never had a problem if we got back late as the foreman used to come with us.
 
As a pupil of St Georges School I was taught to swim at Monument Road Baths. Earned my first free swimming pass there.
An aunt used to take me have a bath there. No bath in the house at Ladywood Road so this was a great treat.
Happy days.
 
For anyone interested this book is for sale on eBay. Most likely the book referred to in post #1. These images were posted for the book auction. Viv.

72B73BCE-3402-4FEB-B548-9E255D25BDC3.jpegC24A21C3-FE63-4F1C-9000-429F20AE7EE8.jpeg0B53138E-750B-4BAA-AD95-939C3F211162.jpeg4C6403DE-8436-42B9-A63F-0EBCD06F897A.jpegC87329C8-E486-43FB-B549-841BF37162C7.jpeg
 
Many reminiscences about pleasure bathing at the Monument Road baths, but for a great many in the area, mentioned in a couple of previous posts, it was a boon to the large population in the Ladywood area that did not have a bath in their house. This applied to all the other city's baths details of which are in their own thread or a general one.
 
From 1960 to 1963 I used to walk to Monument road baths from Barford road senior school. I learnt to swim there. I remember the long walk back to Barford road via Icknield Port road.
I am reminded of my old school when I ride through Barford on my way to Stratford (most Tuesdays) and Louisa Ryland who was a great benefactor to this great city of Birmingham.
 
Spent many happy days there , after getting out of the water and getting dressed upstairs to the cafe , for either a cup of OXO or hot chocolate and a packet of Cheesettes , how's that for living the life ?
 
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