The Baths, the most unwelcoming place on earth when I went to Moseley School of art, dark .cold ,depressing COLD and that's the good part, Look much the same to me. BUT I was been forcessious with my comment, I know they got even more run down over the years. BUT the building is fantastic, a work of art, well worth saving. Great Photos as usual Ellwood, enjoyed them, many memories some even good.They have been, for decades. I noticed a leak under one of the boilers.
Our house, on Moat Lane Yardley built after the war by Dare Builders, had a bath up stairs, with an electric heater for the water. But I do remember the baths at the Moseley Baths. Still my memories of the Moseley Baths, are that is was a cold and dank, unfriendly place.Very good shots indeed! Couldn't help thinking about the terminology...Baths! The swimming facilities were also referred to as "baths", is this still the case? Since many of us back then had no indoor plumbing, the "baths" were the place to experience a weekly treat of sitting in a real tub. The picture of one of those tubs, complete with pull rope, very much took me back to those golden days in Aston, where, every Saturday morning, we would walk up Hospital St to the "stand alone washing baths" anyone recall those? You would rent a towel, which came with a bar of soap the size of an arrowroot biscuit, and if you could afford it, a bath cube...The attendant would put a few inches of hot water in the tub with his "key", and you could put in as much cold water as you pleased. Fortunately, my dad had a very good toolbox that afforded me the luxury of unlimited hot water.
Dave A
I also remember that on leaving the changing cubicles (Sparkhill) you had to step into a small square area which contained some form of anti bacterial agent as a precaution against the spread of athletes foot. Then you could go to one of the pools. This was in just after WW2. There was a similar arrangement at Cadbury's pool - that was in 1953.