Herm Albright

Herm Albright 1876 - 1944, who is he and what has he got to do with Birley Spa? Well, simple answer, absolutely nothing.
He was a German born American artist, famous for saying this...
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." 

It's a quote I've loved for years, and as a group, our positive attitude is what has carried us through a lot. At the end of August it will be 5 years since we started our campaign to save Birley Spa. It's been a long 5 years of the highest highs, and the lowest lows, and all manner of emotions inbetween. The last 12 to 18 months however, have been hard, really hard. Last year we were so happy when we found that the Sheffield Countryside Conservation Trust bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, for restoration work to the pond, had been successful. We thought, finally, this is it! But it wasn't. It should have opened doors for us. We were no longer talking about restoring a building and a pond, because the pond was being done. We were no longer arguing about NLHF, refusing to fund Birley Spa, because they already were. Which we knew they would. But for some reason, nothing changed, in fact it got worse. Staying optimistic, staying hopeful, became very hard indeed. We know we have the support of the community, we know people are interested in Birley Spa, but those that had the power to change things, or enable us to change things, didn't want to speak to us. 

A couple of months ago, pretty much as a last ditch effort I emailed Kate Josephs, CEO of Sheffield City Council outlining the above and saying, we don't know where to go, we don't know who to talk to anymore. The Lowcock report, produced in the wake of the tree debacle, identified systemic failures within the council and their approach to  working with, and listening to communities. Has anything really changed?

It did take her a few weeks to get back to us, in fairness, she is a very busy lady. Since then, yes, there have been some massive changes. We've spoken to officers from the Local Area Committee and have a direct contact within the council once more. Separately, we have met with our MP Clive Betts, who has been supportive from day one, twice and it really does feel like there's been a shift. Most recently we met with the new Heritage Champion, Councillor Janet Ridler, a very worthy holder of the post. She came to our first Heritage Open Days in 2019 in her role with Sheffield Civic Trust. She is a real powerhouse and ally for the heritage community. We will be working with her to hopefully, finally, move things forward. We are working on a business plan, again, with a view to securing a lease and with it a bright future for Birley Spa. We have a few new people on board who are not as battle weary as those of us that were here from the beginning, and they don't have the weight of past wrongs to carry. For all of us, our passion for our beautiful Bath House is as strong as ever, and with the energy of our new people, we are still, very much, a force to be reckoned with. But we will need the community to stay on board, we will need the community to stay with us, it's not over yet.

In other news, the restoration work on the pond is still ongoing. Tony from SCCT very kindly used their powerful mower in the grounds and garden to great effect. Next big job is the retaining wall at the side of the pond, just need the monsoon season to end. The Moorhens seem to approve of the work so far, successfully raising a brood of six chicks, certainly the largest brood we've seen them have.

We are, of course, taking part in Heritage Open Days in September, our 5th year of being involved, details are on the website and will be on the Facebook Group shortly. We look forward to seeing you there if you haven't been before, or again, if you have!

Volunteer Days are ongoing, but we are still struggling with numbers. The weather certainly hasn't helped, but if it's a half decent day we would love for you to join us.

Our Facebook Group now has almost 2,500 members, we would like to personally thank every single one of you for showing your support, we would not have persevered as long without you. Let's hope we have good news to share soon.

Further updates as we get them.