We explore Bramley Baths, the last remaining Edwardian bath house in Leeds, as it approaches its 120th anniversary.
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00:00I've been using Bramley Baths since I was a toddler, since just starting walking.
00:04My dad used to bring me swimming with my brothers and sisters,
00:07come from one of six, so there were lots of us,
00:10and then have nine children myself now.
00:13I've brought them all swimming here and they've all learnt to swim,
00:17and I just love the place.
00:19Michelle Gilligan has a lifetime of memories from Bramley Baths,
00:23the community-led gem that's seen thousands of Leeds locals learn and continue to swim.
00:28Some of those based at the Grade 2 listed social enterprise have been reflecting
00:32on how community support preserves its past, delivers its present,
00:36and will secure its future, with complete closure narrowly avoided in 2011.
00:41It's all thanks to John Battle, who retired from the government
00:44and actually got asked to save the baths back in 2011,
00:49with some other people who were called friends of Bramley Baths,
00:52and it run down to 20, 30 hours a week usage,
00:55and it was going bust because it was losing £300,000 a year,
00:59and they went on the doors and said,
01:01would you back it if we kept it up and went community-led?
01:04And then the rest is history.
01:05It's the last surviving Edwardian bathhouse in Leeds,
01:08and for that reason it's special, but it's also special because
01:10it has been in continuous use since 1904.
01:14It's obviously changed its service delivery through wartime,
01:17and cholera, and pandemics, and things like that, but it's always been in use.
01:22I've seen it progress from almost bare bones of service delivery
01:26right through up until now, where we're doing lots more outreach kind of work,
01:30hence our job roles, so it's just been a wonderful journey to be part of.
01:34We look after 17 schools who come here and bring kids to swim,
01:38and we teach over 1,050 other children to swim.
01:42We do fun swims, family swims, general swims, lane swims,
01:46so we serve a wide range of the population.
01:49I've got some quite horrid memories of being brought with school
01:53and having to dunk us feet in what smelt like vinegar
01:58before you were allowed to get changed and sorted,
02:01and then we used to have a few teachers that were a bit on the cruel side
02:05when they were teaching you to swim.
02:06They'd rip that pole away when you just weren't quite sure, just to force you to.
02:11So obviously I learnt to swim here, which was great, but it's a lot nicer now
02:16when you see how they teach the kids to swim.
02:19I actually learnt to swim here, so I've got very strong memories
02:22from my childhood swimming up and down the pool.
02:24We've got lots of exciting plans to do more creative things,
02:28engage people much more with our heritage,
02:30through developing more arts and cultural programmes,
02:34social prescribing and health and wellbeing work.
02:38Part of the gem is not just the historic building,
02:40but the trustee board, who work hard as volunteer board,
02:44gives great support to the management team.
02:46I'd like to think that we would be a really good example
02:49of what community working and social enterprise looks like,
02:53even on a national level.
02:54So for me, keeping that 120 years going,
02:57that's why it depends on what the community wants.