2008 Open Days - record attendances

Our Open Days so far this year have been particularly successful and very well attended, between 600-800 visitors. In March we marked Mothering Sunday with hot lunches and daffodils on the cafe tables.

In April we hosted an exhibition of photography and video by students from the University of Bolton.. The Lord Mayor visited and we were entertained by Not Quite Jazz.

The May Open Day included another student art exhibition and a Table-top sale which was really popular. The pictures show some young visitors with their purchases and Dionne using her face-painting skills.

We will continue to hold special acitivities at our Open Days throughout the summer. On June 1st we are holding Print workshops, inspired by the wonderful exhibition of Anne Desmet's work currently on show at Whitworth Art Gallery on Oxford Road. A large part of Anne's recent work has been based on Victoria Baths. The Print workshops run from 1-3pm on June 1st and are for anyone to have a go at making a print. They will be repeated in July and August thanks to funding that we have received from Arts Council England North West.

Our June Open Day also features a welcome return visit from Manchester Community Choir.

Goodbye to a very dear Friend and supporter

We were really saddened in February 2008 when our dear Friend Sunny Lowry died in Warrington Hospital after a short illness. Sunny learnt to swim at Victoria Baths back in 1918 and became well-known in the swimming world when she swam the English Channel in 1933. Sunny stepped in to support our campaign as soon as she found out the building was under threat. She attended most of our Open Days, helped us with fundraising and appeared on BBC's Restoration in 2003. Sunny was a patron of the Friends of Victoria Baths from 2005. Despite her great age - she was 97 years old this year - she was full of energy and inspired us immensely. She is very, very sorely missed.

This picture shows Sunny entertaining two young visitors at one of our Open Days a few years ago.

Restoration in Action

A beautiful sunny Open Day

Our Open Day on 3rd June 2007 was special for a number of reasons - we had a performance of Manchester Community Choir, who had last performed in the Baths in 2001. This time they sang from the balcony of the sports hall. It was a moving performance from a talented group of singers and they dedicated the song "We are going,..and get there we will" to the Friends of Victoria Baths.

Later in the afternoon we were treated to another great performance, this time from Wired Aerial Theatre who performed "Glimpse" from the roof structure of the Gala pool. The sun shone through the stained glass windows and the audience were enthralled. Wired appeared at Victoria Baths as part of the X.trax showcase festival.

And to top off a memorable afternoon we were informed that Victoria Baths had passed the accreditation to be counted as a Quality Assured Visitor Attraction.

The Scaffold is growing

The view of Victoria Baths from Hathersage Road has been transformed in the last few weeks as William Anelay secure the construction site and HT Scaffold erect the complex scaffold structure required for Restoration Phase 1. Eventually the whole of the front block of the building will be enveloped in scaffolding, including a very large temporary roof - enabling work to proceed on re-roofing whatever the weather.

Inside the building, the front of the building has been partitioned off and the ornate tilework of the entrance halls and Turkish Baths is being clad with protective sheeting before the structural work on roofs and floors begins.

Our next Open Day is Sunday 6th May, 12noon to 4pm when you can view the restoration site through special viewing points and hear an update on the work from our tour guides.

RESTORATION PHASE 1 IS FINALLY UNDERWAY

We are delighted to be able to report that the restoration of Victoria Baths has started - at last! Just over 14 years since the doors of Victoria Baths closed to users, and three and a half years since we won BBC's Restoration series, Restoration Phase 1 went on site on Monday 19th March 2007.

The need for detailed architectural work, feasibility work, approval of plans and last minute "technical hitches" have all served to extend the time that it has taken us to reach this point. But we think it will prove to have been worth waiting for.

William Anelay Ltd, the main contractors, have done much preparatory work and are ready to go with a range of highly skilled specialised sub-contractors to carry out the full external and structural restoration of the Turkish Baths and the front range of the building.

The first two months of the contract will see scaffolding going up and structural work to the floors beginning. We are aiming to keep the website up to date as the work progresses and have commissioned photographer Jon Parker Lee to to follow the restoration project.

Open Days take place on the first Sunday of each month from April to October and give the public an opportunity to view the Restoration site and get an update on the work taking place.

Welcome to Artisan Ship Canal Developments Ltd

Following a detailed selection procedure, Artisan Ship Canal Developments Ltd have been selected to take on the overal restoration of Victoria Baths following Restoration Phase 1. The company were chosen by a panel made up of representatives of Manchester City Council, the Victoria Baths Trust and heritage funders. All companies putting forward proposals were asked to meet the key aims of the Victoria Baths Steering Group, ie

- the re-opening for public use of the Turkish Baths

- the re-opening for public use of at least one of the swimming pools

- the retention of as much of the historic fabric of the building as possible, especially those features identified in the Conservation Plan as having special architectural or historic importance

- the provision of public access to as much of the building as possible

- making a contribution to the Community Strategy for Manchester

Artisan Ship Canal Developments are a company jointly owned by Artisan, Peel Holdings and Manchester City Council. They propose "the restoration of the site as the social hub of the local community" in which the Baths once again provides "much needed leisure facilities for local people". They will now produce a detailed plan for a mixed use scheme which will include the re-opening of at least one of the swimming pools and the Turkish Baths, and the conversion of the remainder of the building and site for a range of complementary uses. We are looking forward to working with Artisan Ship Canal Developments as they develop their plans.

At the same time, United Utilities have sold the site adjacent to Victoria Baths which has outline planning permission for residential development. So we expect work to begin on this site in the coming months.

Gala Pool is filled - for the first time this century!

Counting Down to Restoration...

William Anelay have been on site at Victoria Baths this week (20th June '06), along with specialist subcontractors Lightworks, to carry out investigative and trial works in preparation for Restoration Phase 1. A window in the Turkish Rest Room has been removed - to establish how the windows and window frames can be restored without disturbing the surrounding tiles. All the stained glass windows on the ground floor of the building are fitted behind tiled window reveals.

As this is the first real restoration work at the Baths, there was a high level of press interest, and the work was featured on BBC's North West tonight and in the Manchester Evening News.

Our own photographer Aidan O'Rourke, took a great series of pictures, some of which are shown here.

To view a video clip on this news item you can visit www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Contractors appointed

William Anelay Ltd. has many years of experience of heritage restoration work, including other Manchester projects such as Gorton Monastery, currently under restoration.

“This is another important milestone in the countdown to restoration work actually starting at Victoria Baths” said Gill Wright, project manager of the Victoria Baths Trust. “We are delighted with the appointment of William Anelay Ltd which has a considerable track record in the field of heritage restoration. We are also looking forward to enabling the public to continue to visit Victoria Baths whilst restoration work is underway. There is a lot of interest in seeing the building brought back to useful life. It’s an exciting process and there is much to be learnt from watching it happen.”

This first stage of work at Victoria Baths will take 12 – 15 months and has a construction value of £2.8m. It includes many specialist areas such as mosaic, terracotta and stained glass restoration as well as the complete renewal of roofs and repairing of gutters.

Victoria Baths - the Dream Team

John Prichard, Lead architect

Grellan Symes, Project Manager

Ian Wilson, Quantity Surveyor

Trevor Mottershaw, Structural Engineer

February 2006 has seen us reach another milestone in the long road to actually beginning work to restore Victoria Baths. The professional team who will oversee Restoration Phase 1 have now all been appointed, following a rigorous selection process. We are delighted to announce the team which includes both firms who are very familiar with Victoria Baths through past work, and some who are new to us. All these firms and individuals have extensive track records of working on listed buildings such as Victoria Baths. This team brings together a high degree of expertise, experience and enthusiasm. We look forward greatly to working with them over the coming months.

The Dream Team are:

John Prichard, lead and conservation architect, Lloyd Evans Prichard

Grellan Symes, project manager, Buro Four

Ian Wilson, quantity surveyor, Firmingers

Trevor Mottershaw, stuctural engineer, Wright Mottershaw

Planning for the future of Victoria Baths

A planning application has been submitted this month (Oct 05) by United Utilties, our neighbours on Hathersage Road. They propose to make part of the site they own available for new-build residential development. This is a welcome move because we have identified that a mixed-use scheme incorporating new-build residential development could provide the most viable option for the restoration of the Baths. Once the planning issues have been determined, the land will be marketed by United Utilities in a joint exercise with Manchester City Council and the Victoria Baths Trust. We hope that proposals will come forward with ideas for an integrated development of both the land and Victoria Baths linking in with the restoration and re-opening of public leisure facilities.

Public consultation is being held on the planning application.

[Note - Outline planning consent was granted to United Utilities.]

Restoration Update - October 2005

Our plans for the first phase of the restoration of Victoria Baths have now been approved.

We have advertised for architects to complete the detailed design work and carry out the restoration scheme. We will appoint the chosen team in October/November 2005.

We will also be appointing a project manager.

In the new year there will be a tendering process to appoint the contractor.

So, 2006 sees the Countdown to Restoration. You can visit during this period. See the Open Days page for details. We expect the restoration work to start in October 2006, just after our 100th Anniversary celebrations.

Black History Market 4 ALL

'Meet the Locals' and the Victoria Baths Trust organised a Black History Market at Victoria Baths on Sunday 2nd October to co-incide with our public Open Day.

Black History Market 4 ALL celebrated Black History in Ardwick, Longisght and Levenshulme. The event was opened by the mayor of Manchester, who was visiting Victoria Baths for the first time. He had a go at African drumming as well as viewing all the exhibitions and stalls and having tour of the Baths.

BHM4ALL was part of Black History month in Manchester. It was a great success with 22 stalls and over 500 visitors.

French dancers perform the impossible

We welcomed a French aerial dance company to Victoria Baths in July, as part of Greater Manchester's Urban Moves Festival of Dance. The company, Retouramont, visited the building an advance and then spent a week at Victoria Baths devising the piece. Reflexion de Facade was a dramatic response to the building - using the roof space in the Female pool and the empty Gala pool.

It was a memorable performance for all of us.

Restoration Update - May 2005

We agreed last year that before we started work to restore the Turkish Baths, we would develop a plan for the whole of Victoria Baths. However, this is taking much longer than we anticipated. So the Trust has approached the Heritage Lottery Fund with a new proposal - to begin the work of restoring the Turkish Baths by carrying out external and structural work to the front block of the building. This is described as an "Enveloping" scheme. It entails full, permanent repairs to the external shell of the front block. It will include:

• Repair of roof timbers
• Re-slating of roofs
• Replacement of gutters and drain pipes
• Restoration of the stained glass windows
• Repair of the roof of the Turkish Baths
• Extensive re-pointing of brickwork
• Repairs to the terracotta
• Repair of the clock tower.

We celebrated VE Day in style

Barclays Staff Make a Difference

Victoria Baths was delighted to welcome 60 Barclays employees to the building on Thursday 4th November 2004. They were here, not just to have a look around but to get stuck in and get their hands dirty! The day was part of Make a Difference Day which is co-ordinated by Community Service Volunteers and sponsored by Barclays Bank. It aims to demonstrate how volunteers really can make a difference in their local community.

The Barclays staff, supported and supervised by a willing group of Trust and Friends volunteers, carried out a range of tasks:
o Clearing out the boiler house
o Clearing out the laundry
o Clearing out much of the basement
o Cleaning the Superintendents Flat
o Cleaning the Female pool
o Creating flower beds in front of the Baths

The results are astounding. We now have many more areas of the building which are safe enough to show members of the public around in 2005.

Antiques Roadshow

The Antiques Roadshow, which visited Victoria Baths on 26th September was a resounding success. 1560 people attended, queued, and had their antiques valued by the experts. Over 30 volunteers from the Friends helped on the day, stewarding, providing refreshments, looking after the busy car-park. Well done and many thanks to everyone who made the day such a success, particularly Gill and Neil.
The programme is due to be broadcast mid January 2005.

Pictured is the BBC's Michael Aspel with two of our own priceless treasures.

Victoria Baths goes into print

In September 2004 the Friends of Victoria Baths achieved a long-standing ambition when they brought out a book on the history of Victoria Baths.

The book has been researched by Friend Prue Williams with help from other members of the Friends and written by Prue with a chapter by Gill Wright, the Trust's project manger.

Victoria Baths: Manchester's Water Palace tells the story of the building of the Baths and its use over the years. We have used very many memories and stories shared with us by people who have used the building in the past, or worked there, or had families involved in the construction of the Baths.

Some of those stories have been acquired through this website.

The book was launched at Manchester Town Hall on 6th September 2004 with the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Tom O'Callaghan in attendance. The book is richly illustrated with both archive and new photography. It costs £14.95 (p+p free). Visit our shop to order a copy.

Victoria Baths wins £3.38million September 2003

Victoria Baths has won first place in BBC2's Restoration, polling 280,018 votes in the Restoration Final which culminated on Sunday 14th September. Voting had taken place over several days and continued during the live broadcast from the Tower of London on Sunday evening. Victoria Baths was represented on the programme by project manager Gill Wright and channel swimmer Sunny Lowry. Twelve members of the Friends also travelled to London to show their support.

In a nail-biting finish Victoria Baths came out on top with Lissan House in Northern Ireland being in second place and Wentworth Castle in Yorkshire coming third.

The Friends had worked very hard in publicising the vote and received very wide support both from Manchester and beyond. We are really pleased that everyone's efforts have paid off so magnificantly.

Urgent Works Complete November 2002