Heritage Open Days was once again worth all the effort that went in to putting it on, thank you to everyone who came. A very special thank you also to the lovely Dan Unwin and the team at Olympus Scaffolding for providing a platform for our visitors to view the plunge pool from above. We had a young assistant this year, who not only sold home-made mud pie spoons, but also explained the pricing structure for bathing at the Spa, and indeed how it may have contributed to the demise of the business. We get so much pleasure from seeing our visitors discovering what a wonderful place it is with such a varied and chequered history. The more we we talk to people, the more we learn about their personal memories of the Spa, which are absolutely fascinating. One of our visitors was a University of Sheffield PhD student, who contacted us after the event about a project to create an Oral History Archive for Birley Spa, to record all these wonderful stories for posterity. All being well the project will start in the new year. More details on this soon.

Our Virtual Quiz night on 26th September, organised by Claire, was a great evening of family fun and may be something we do again in the future as we continue to live through the strangest of times.

Next up is Halloween, and we are so excited! Victoria has created a covid safe event, now fully booked, over two nights that will be awfully, terrifyingly, spooktacularly good!

We are also running a 'Decorate a Pumpkin Competition', please see our Facebook Group for details. We are extremely grateful to Village Pumpkins, Morrisons and Asda for very kindly donating the pumpkins. We can't wait to see what our entrants create.





In our last blog post we asked people to complete a short survey about repairs to Birley Spa Pond. Firstly thank you to all who responded, we had over 150 replies. The results were overwhelmingly in favour of the work going ahead and of it being beneficial for the community and wildlife. There were some very insightful and heart warming comments too. This survey will be invaluable as we pursue funding for the repairs.

We have had two zoom meetings with the council and it's fair to say we are at a bit of an impasse. Apologies for not being able to go into detail at the moment, but if this can be resolved favourably you will hear all about it, if it cannot, you will hear all about it, loudly! Time is against us due to the deterioration of the building, but with National Lottery Heritage Fund interested in the future of the Spa, it is still our belief that the best outcome for the building and the community is for it to be a Community Hub for the benefit and wellbeing of all. 

After much consideration and planning we are pleased to announce that we will be taking part in Heritage Open Days 2020. We are offering a talk and tour of the Bath House, taking in a little more of the grounds this year and tapping into the 'Hidden Nature' theme for HODs. As we are following current guidelines for Covid 19, we are restricting group sizes to 6 people only, to allow for social distancing. We have fixed times for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of each week, but are offering a number of discretional family/social bubble groups at other times. As always HODs are free events, but donations are welcome. https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting/event/birley-spa-bath-house-history-talk-and-tour    

Our Volunteer Days have restarted, we are currently focusing on getting the garden and paths ready for HODs. There is a lot to do, the effects of not being able to work during the lockdown have certainly made the task more difficult, but we are currently feeling pretty pleased with the progress we have made. 

We had been looking into having Birley Spa and Silkstone Ravine classed as a Local Nature Reserve to help us get funding, particularly for the pond. On taking professional advice we will no longer be pursuing that option. Natural England are apparently reluctant to grant more LNRs, and it would appear having that status has little impact on funding applications. We have approval from Parks to seek funding and we have a collaborative work plan for various areas in the grounds, some of which has already started. Before we can apply for funding for repairs to the pond, we need to prove that there is a desire for the work to be carried out, that it is of value to the community. To achieve this we have created an online survey to assess public mood for the project. https://forms.gle/Hsax1xazhPU1WdMB9 We would be most grateful if you could complete it, thank you.

We are due to have a meeting with the council on 4th September, via zoom, hopefully we will be able to resolve at least some of the ongoing issues. Fingers crossed we get some resolutions. 

Hope you are all keeping well in what is sadly still one of the strangest and troubling of times.

We are very pleased to report that Birley Spa appears to have had many new visitors during the lockdown as more people have explored their local area, let's hope they don't forget about us as and when normal life returns!

To engage local children (and adults) a Spa Snake of Stone has appeared and continues to grow, doesn't he look great? He will be relocated to the garden to preserve him, when the time is right.

There have also been sightings of fairies, we always knew it was a magical place, keep a look out, there may be more appearing very soon.

Work has started on removing the garden waste, given current restrictions progress is slow, but we're getting there and some little splashes of colour will soon be starting to bloom.

Planning for Heritage Open Days is ongoing, it may be possible to proceed in a socially distanced manner with something like our original plans but other options are being considered, such as a virtual tour, if necessary. A decision will be made this month.

We have been very lucky to have received 2 separate sets of photos of Birley Spa, one from the 1960s and another spanning from the 1940s to 1980, so grateful to the donors, we can now start to expand our Social History collection. If anyone has any old photos from the Spa they would like to share with us, please do let us know. We are also collecting stories, memories and anecdotes, there are some lovely ones out there, again if you have any please feel free to share.

We are looking to apply for Birley Spa Grounds and Silkstone Ravine to be made a Local Nature Reserve. The area is currently classed as a Local Wildlife Site, which although an acknowledgement of its importance, carries little weight. We have included Silkstone Ravine as it is adjacent to the Spa and because much of it was originally part of the Spa land. Also, it is worth pointing out, wildlife doesn't recognise our boundaries. Within the Spa grounds we are working with Parks Department, on advisement from the Ecology Team, it seems common sense to expand this across the Ravine as well. Parks Department cover the basics, it is as much as their budget will allow, with our volunteers we can do more and help to enhance biodiversity in the area. The Hackenthorpe Litter Pickers are already doing a fantastic job keeping the whole site clean, it is looking better than it has for years. We believe, moving forward from this terrible time, our green space will be more important than ever. LNR status could open doors for more funding opportunities to improve the area further. Our community deserves that.

Obviously due to the current pandemic situation any events we had planned were cancelled. May Day, History talks and market stalls, all things that would have raised considerable funds for our cause have not been able to go ahead. Event planning for the future is complicated and once again our lack of basic facilities is problematic. But, we still need to raise money to secure a future for the Bath House, the building continues to deteriorate and in the current conditions acquiring funding is going to be even more difficult, the more money we can raise the better. To this end we have opened a Paypal account for donations if anyone would like to contribute. Thank you.

Although we knew the Coronavirus was coming, it's probable that none of us fully appreciated the impact it would have on our everyday life. Indeed, how long the crisis will continue is still unknown, we can only hope people take every precaution possible to help reduce the spread of the virus.
In the interest of Health and Safety all upcoming events at and for Birley Spa are cancelled, including our Volunteer Days. Although this is disappointing, it does give us time to thoroughly plan out future events as well as work on strategies for improving the site in general and look at longer term fundraising.

We hope to get the get the green waste moved from the garden. It is unlikely that we would lay a lawn this year in any event, planning for accessible pathways is much more important. What would be fantastic though would be to have some colour in the garden. We have tried to find out what was actually supposed to be growing there, but haven't got very far. The Cherry Laurel had overgrown so much that it had effectively smothered anything else. There are a few ferns and a clump of primroses in the border in front of the entrance to the plunge pool and that's about it.

The Spa is a Victorian building so it would be appropriate to have a Victorian themed garden. A formal planting style is quite high maintenance so the more relaxed style of a Victorian Cottage garden would be preferable. Because we want to fuel biodiversity within our environment as much as possible there will be emphasis on plants to attract Bees, Butterfies, Bats etc. We are currently working on plant lists , but if anyone has anything suitable going spare that they would like to donate, please get in touch.

The earliest event that may be able to go ahead in the Spa grounds is Saturday 4th July 2020, Teddy Bears Picnic, in conjunction with Fields in Trust. Further details will be released nearer the time, if we are able to proceed.

Heritage Open Days this year run from 11-20 September. We all are reasonably optimistic that this will go ahead as normal. Following on from last years event we will (hopefully) be having a few extra sessions and rolling out a wider tour of the grounds with a talk about the flora and fauna of the area.

Obviously given the ongoing situation our progress with the council has all but halted as other critical issues must take priority. 
We will be speaking with representatives from National Lottery Heritage Fund next week on ways to move our application forward.

We will update you when we have further news. Please stay safe!


For children big and small
Link to the Wildlife Trusts, home activities.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/looking-after-yourself-and-nature#activities

Apologies for the delay in update on this, but things have been a little chaotic lately, for all of us I think!

Our long awaited meeting with the council finally took place, Councillors Paul Wood, Bryan Lodge and Denise Fox were in attendance, as was Brian Mosley from Love Sheffield (Facebook Group).

Councillor Paul Wood will chase up the fitting of a new door to the building. The only door measured for replacement was the main entrance, but we need access to the kitchen and that door cannot be opened from the outside. We are hoping that enquiries can be made regarding the roofing material that covers the Spa as repair may be more practical than replacement. We have asked about mesh placed over the downpipes from the roof to stop them getting blocked with leaves.
To facilitate greater engagement with the site and enable fundraising activities we need a toilet and ideally access to drinking water, we have asked the council for advice and/or assistance with this.

Further discussions were had regarding improving ventilation issues, which are preventing the upper floor from drying out.

The Ward Councillors are looking to fund a professionally written business plan suitable for submission to major funders. We have asked our business advisor provided by Prosper North to provide a quote for his services, because he has worked with us previously and is familiar with the Spa and our plans for it.

Friends of Birley Spa have opened an application to Heritage Lottery Fund for £10,000 to assess resilience, feasibility and sustainability of the business plan for Birley Spa. We have also registered with Social Enterprise Exchange to access further funding streams.

For these applications to be successful we need a legal document from the council to verify our status which Councillor Paul Wood has said he will acquire. The legal document will also enable us to start serious fundraising. Councillor Bryan Lodge has offered to help us with a race night.

With onsite facilities we will be able to offer tours and talks for a fee to further raise funds along with other events.

There are ongoing issues with the pond in the grounds which need to be resolved, we have now been told that the pond does not come under Parks! We have asked for urgent clarification on this.

We are now awaiting responses to all the above.

Frustratingly, the council produced a Building Better Parks Document around the end of 2018. It's purpose is to make best use of Parks by introducing businesses, such as cafes, and maximising use of green space for the benefit of all. Ironically, this is exactly what we want to do at Birley Spa, but because the Bath House does not come under the Parks Department, it was not considered in that process.

Sadly as you will be aware, we are in the grip of the Coronavirus pandemic, which will doubtless impact on what is already a painstakingly slow process. While we all hunker down for what will be a tough few months, we will be working to move things forward as much as possible.
Further update on this to follow.

Stay safe everyone!

 
Firstly an apology for the delay in publishing this blog post, but we have been very busy.

A lot of preparation was required for the Heritage Open Days but it really was worth it! We had held back in clearing too much around the building as we were keenly aware that any improvement to its appearance could have made it more appealing to a potential buyer, now that that threat has been removed it has been very rewarding to see the building, on the outside at least, look a little more loved.

Over the 2 weekends we were open for Heritage Open Days we had approximately 150 visitors, from across the city and much further afield, even as far as Norwich. We will never get bored with people saying 'Wow!' when they first see the Plunge Pool. The talk and tour was very well received, the value of the Spa and its grounds is certainly not a hard sell. Although this was a free event we received donations just short £250! Thank you to all!

On Tuesday 22nd October the Firefighters from Birley Fire Station came to help in the grounds, to say they did a brilliant job, is an understatement. We are so grateful for what they achieved, surplus saplings were removed and the true width of the path by the side of the Bath House was rediscovered. They made a huge difference and are keen to help out again at some stage. They will also be donating half the proceeds of a charity run they are doing to the Friends group, date to be confirmed.

Birley Spa held its first Halloween Trail on 31st October, the building was transformed into a spooky wonderland. It was fantastic to see so many of the local community attend, we cannot wait to do it all again next year, and who knows, we may even have electricity!

We are now an official Company Limited by Guarantee for charitable purposes, when we have raised funds of £5,000 we can become a Registered Charity, both of these things give us access to more fundraising opportunities and access to funding streams. The next step is clearly to raise as much money as we can because to apply to many of the big funders, for repairs to the building, we would be expected to provide a percentage ourselves. Sadly due to the current economic uncertainty the local businessman who was going to help us, is no longer able to do so.

We have been very lucky to be enrolled on the Prosper North mentoring scheme which will help us develop our business plans' long term sustainability. We may also be eligible at the end of it to apply to the Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund. We have attended a Social Enterprise and Trading workshop which was very interesting, although a little ahead of where we are now. We also have a business advisor provided by Prosper North whom we have now had two very productive meetings with.

The council decided that as there was a very comprehensive survey done of the Spa just over 12 months ago, there was no need for a second one and currently we are basing our repair plans on aspects of that. There is a possibility that the council will be able to fund some of the smaller, but urgent repairs to prevent further deterioration of the building. They have already been and cleared the grates and some of the gutters. We will be meeting with the council in the near future to discuss next steps.

Following on from the Firefighters marvellous work, we have decided that we will have regular volunteer sessions in the grounds, on the second and 4th Sunday of each month. At the present time we are extremely limited with the amount of tools we have, but much of the work we have to do is literally hands on, so bringing your own gloves is essential. The aim in the grounds is to remove all none native species like Yellow Archangel and then contain invasive growth such as Ivy, Holly and Brambles. The sessions will be 10 till 12 noon, the first one will be Sunday 10th November. Please come along if you can.
 
We are now moving into a new phase with the Spa and we are increasingly aware that the workload is growing. We will need to expand our committee in the near future, further details to be announced.

We will update you on the outcome of our next council meeting.

Following a few turbulent weeks, where the Spa felt more under threat than ever before, it was with some trepidation that we arrived at the Town Hall tonight for our second meeting with Councillor Paul Wood. Also in attendance were Councillors Denise Fox, Bryan Lodge, Karen McGowan and Star Reporter Molly Williams.

It is fair to say the tone had altered considerably since our last meeting. The 10th August deadline has now been removed and we will receive a letter that will hopefully allow us to apply for funding. There will be an independent survey done of the building to assess the true cost of repairs and prioritise them accordingly. Councillor Wood will look into potential ways that the council could fund or match fund these repairs. Although this is great news, it does leave the possibility of the hall becoming residential or office space, on the table.

To remove those options completely we would need to find funding ourselves. To that end we have approached a community enterprise development group and are to schedule a meeting with them hopefully in the next week. We have submitted an application to Prosper North who provide mentoring for cultural heritage organisations with the opportunity to access the Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund. We have also received a generous offer of financial assistance from a local businessman who is keen to see the Spa remain as a community building.

There is a determination on both sides that Birley Spa will be restored. The results of the building survey could play a huge part in which way the outcome goes.

Further updates will be given as we get them. Thank you for all your support, we couldn't have got this far without you!

P.S. We also have the go ahead for our Heritage Open Days!
​https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting/event/birley-spa-bath-house-history-talk-and-tour

On 28th June we had our first official meeting with Councillor Wood as Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety, it did not go as well as we hoped, but we felt we were still able to move things forward. If we were to receive the letter to allow us to apply for funding, we could prove we could repair and maintain the building.
We received an email, sent just before midnight on 8th July, which changed all that. We were told we had to prove we could acquire £200k for repairs and £30k per annum to run the building, by 10th August or the Bath House would be sold to one of a number of bidders, waiting to buy the building. We were not getting a letter to allow us to apply for funding.
Our local councillors  and Heritage Champion were not included in the decision making process, we were devastated.
There have been some unpleasant things said about us, but we have been open and honest throughout this journey and we hope that people can see that.
We have not given up, we have a few options we are working on, but the playing field is far from level.
We want to send a message to the council that Birley Spa matters, please come and add your voice!

Please note, due to Health and Safety issues, the car park at the Spa will not be available.