Pupils at Park Hill School have been working hard to create their own short films about the history of Moseley Road Baths.
We started off with a trip to Moseley Road Baths. This coincided with ‘World Book Day’, so as you can see, everyone was dressed up as their favourite character for the occasion!
Pupils then learnt all about film and sound recording and how to conduct interviews, before coming up with their own list of questions for our interviewees, all of whom had some great memories of Moseley Road Baths over the years!
First of all we interviewed Katherine Jackson, who has been swimming at the pool for over 30 years. She told pupils how she almost gave birth in the pool 25 years ago. Now she and her daughter enjoy swimming together, and the building remains a special place for them both.
We also interviewed Jenny Austin from the Friends of Moseley Road Baths who talked about how the group was set up, and some of the things that they have done to campaign to keep the pool open.
Finally, we interviewed Desmond Simpson who is a stonemason who worked on the building in 2003 and 2004. He was able to tell us all about the materials used and why the work to Moseley Road Baths needed to be done. In particular he talked about the need to use lime mortar instead of concrete, and taught us what ‘mullions’ are. He taught us that because Moseley Road Baths is a listed building that it needs special care and cannot be knocked down.
We then logged the footage, deciding which bits to keep in the final film. There was some pretty fierce debate as there were so many interesting stories and bits of information that we had to take out! In particular we thought that there were lots of really good opinions about why Moseley Road Baths is so special. We then added music, logos, transitions and credits.
The films will be Premiered in a special school assembly in May where parents and interviewees will be invited. Thanks so much to all of the school staff who helped to make the project happen, to our interviewees for taking the time out to be quizzed by our young historians, and of course, a huge well done to all of the group who worked so hard to create three excellent films!
Tags: education, film, Heritage, Heritage Lottery Fund, interviews, learning, Moseley Road, Moseley Road Baths, Oral History, Pool of Memories, pupils, Rachel Gillies
