VICTORY Govanhill Baths Community Trust

THE VICTORY!
On 3rd July as we reported in the last UPDATE we met with Council officials and local elected members and presented our first Phase Business Plan and Options analysis.A record of that meeting is attached below (APPENDIX 1, below) for information.

As a result the council has today (18th August) formally approved that the Trust be granted a 99 year lease on the baths in order to convert it to a Well being and Sporting Complex as described in the Executive Summary sent with UPDATE 31. WE have been given 12 months to demonstrate in a second phase business plan that we can present viable capital and revenue figures to make the plan work. Otherwise the council says it will place the site on the open market.

The formal record of the decision can be seen at;

http://www.glasgowcitycouncil.co.uk/committee_minutes/public/extdocviewtop.asp?CID=2362&DATE=18/08/2006&TIME=13:00&DAY=Friday&PAGE=1

Interestingly the Evening Times was given an early warning of the council’s “decision” last Monday, 14th August and we learned of the decision from a reporter on that paper. To date we have not been formally informed although we are happy to accept the decision!

At the heart of our Business Plan lie the notions that this is a partnership project tied to the social economy. On the front of our business plan we cite Bridgett McConnell’s carefully chosen words extracted from the Scottish Executive’s ideas on the social economy. (The social economy is the encouragement and facilitation of community members to work towards the development of projects and ideas that will enhance the overall wellbeing of a community)

“….culture and sport in the hands of the people of Glasgow…... will work most effectively when all of those with a stake in culture and sport in the city, whether in the public, private, community or voluntary sectors work together”.
Bridgett McConnell, Evening Times March 8th 2006


So we have reached a position no-one could have imagined four years ago and the Trust is calling on all the support it can get. The Trust’s Board will be posting developments and ideas but please note that the Friends of Govanhill Baths continues to meet every other Tuesday at Daisy Street neighbourhood Centre at 7pm. The next meeting being on Tuesday 29th August.


2. THE CELEBRATION AND FUND RAISING (only £5.7M!)

On Saturday September 18th 11am – 4pm) at the Peace Garden adjacent to the baths we are holding a celebration barbeque party and brica brac/car boot sale. There will be stalls, music, entertainment and children’s games as we kick off a momentous year that will ensure the plans we have for the Baths are realised.


3. THE NATIONAL SUPPORT – THE NATIONAL POOLS FEDERATION!


Also as reported on the last UPDATE we presented Govanhill Bath’s history and plans to the Victoria Society Conference in June. A full report has now been made and this can be seen by following the link in the message (AAPENDIX 2 Below) ) , viz;


http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/downloads/MakingaSplashReport.pdf


All the details in this report are worth a look. They make plain that the issue of preserving and resorting historic and other urban pools is gaining momentum as more and more people realise what a dreadful loss they will be to healthy living and heritage if they continue to be destroyed by local authorities on economic grounds alone.


4. AND……. THE BOOK!!

Malavan Media is producing two books (See Below) in the near future. The first, “Great Lengths” is a history of indoor pools in Britain and the author and Mavalan will be visiting Glasgow in October in order to research Govanhill Baths as well as other City Baths.

The second, “Played in Glasgow” (part of a series, Played in Britain) is also being researched and you can see details of the sorts of book they produce at its web site at;

www.playedinbritain.co.uk

If you think you can assist or have special stories or information about Govanhill Baths, do get in touch directly with Jackie Spreckley at;

jackie.spreckley@malavan.com


5. AND FINALLY…THE CONCLUSION


Meeting up with 120 people from all over the UK made plain the amount of feeling there is about the preservation of Victorian and Edwardian Pools. What became clear there was the common history that exists across the UK about the development of community swimming pools. Read about this in the summary of Dr Ian Gordon’s talk at the conference on the website at (3) above.