Visit to Victoria Baths 9 June 2009
Twenty members and friends gathered at the Baths at 7.00pm to be welcomed by Steve, one of the 2.4 paid staff of the Baths. Steve gave a brief introduction and then a guided tour, before leaving members free to wander and find the prize-winning shot. The café was open for tea and cakes, and the shop open for business, manned (or should I say womanned) by Trustee, Chandon, who had been active in the 1990’s trying to keep the baths open, and was still active in the Restoration process. We were pleased to welcome ex member John Coles and his wife Carol, newly returned to Poynton after his two term contracts in Switzerland.
Steve recounted the many ways in which the fabric of the building had been restored, and the continuing problem of raising funds to continue this work. The building had featured in several TV series (for example providing the mortuary scene in a Sherlock Holmes play), and the Turkish Baths facility was in regular use by professional footballers anxious to quickly recover from muscular injuries. An up-to-date account of the Victoria Baths may be seen on their WEB page www.victoriabaths.org.uk. Steve and Richard Scaife counted the members out again at about 9.00pm, before locking up the building. Richard is to be congratulated on his organization of another successful Club outing.
Photographs by Bill Chadband, Roger Dye, Tony Redford, and Barry Pearson:
