December 2019:
This blog was set up by Kate Fox in 2009 – 10 and subsequently taken over by a VB volunteer. It hasn’t been updated for a long time. It is now being used mainly to document sources of history of swimming, and baths and wash houses buildings. See the Historical Sources page
What follows is Kate’s original text about the project:
Victoria Baths, located on Hathersage Road in Manchester, is the UK’s best-loved restoration project. The Baths’ closure in 1993 – after 87 years of providing both essential and leisure facilities to the people of Manchester – outraged the local community. The Friends of Victoria Baths and Victoria Baths Trust were established by local people campaigning for the re-opening of the building for public use.
In 2003, Victoria Baths captured the hearts of thousands of television viewers, winning the landmark BBC series Restoration with 282, 018 votes. Restoration of the building, and in particular its Turkish Baths is ongoing, with the project currently in its second phase.
You might think that the building would be shut down and unused during this period of restoration, but in fact, Victoria Baths is still very much a community hub, reinventing itself as a venue for family events, art installations, film and television shoots, musical performance, and even the odd spot of detective work.
This site aims to document the experiences of those who’ve used the Baths in recent times, to document the weird and wonderful range of activities that have taken place within its intricately-tiled walls, and to reflect on the ways in which the building itself has added a unique dimension to their work.
Beyond the Baths has been produced by Kate Fox, an MA student in Social Media at Salford University (2009-10).
[…] this event we were interviewed by Kate, who as part of her MA is working with the Victoria Baths Trust to: document the experiences of […]