Latest News
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Doors Open Days are a huge success!
28th September 2022
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From the 12th – 18th September, we welcomed nearly 500 visitors: 161 people took part in tours of the baths building, and 327 people visited our multimedia exhibition ‘At The Swim Club’. Responses from both were overwhelmingly positive. For example, one tour participant said: ‘unreal tour: proud to live in Govanhill!’. Another said ‘a really interesting peak at what’s to come!’. If you missed out on a tour this year, keep your eye on our website, newsletter, and social media channels for future opportunities.
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Watch this space: Doors Open Days programme to be announced soon!
11th July 2022
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The programme for Doors Open Days 2022 will be announced in the very near future. We are so excited to be able to open our building to visitors again, and are hoping to be able to welcome more than double the number of visitors this time around! We will also be offering a small number of tours in local community languages, thanks to a grant from the South East Integration Network. To see the programme, keep an eye on our What’s On information and on social media, or click here to visit the Doors Open Days homepage. Places will book up soon, so be sure to secure your place early!
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You can find some footage of last year’s tours in this video, courtesy of Glasgow Building Preservation Trust:
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Chimney Removed
20th April 2022
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The modern chimney was removed from the roof of the baths in April 2022. Check out this video to watch it come down! It was removed to make room for a new floor at the top of the building, which will be a ‘bridge’ space linking the two halves of the building together.
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New Skylight Installed
28th March 2022
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Have a look at these ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots of the skylight in the steamie, taken by Govanhill Baths Building Preservation Trust board member Niall Murphy. As Niall says, ‘[it]looks so crisp and clear especially when compared to the former polycarbonate one which had gone milky in the sunlight. What a difference.’ We couldn’t agree more!
Works Get Thumbs-Up From the Evening Times!
25th January 2022
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The refurbishment was given a double-page spread in Monday’s Evening Times, giving people all over Glasgow a glimpse of progress on the site. To read the article on the Evening Times’ website, click here.
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Sponsor a Tile Launches
13th December 2021
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Click here to sponsor your own tile!
To make Govanhill Baths a resource for everyone to enjoy, we are raising money to help provide vital equipment enabling equal access and facilities for all.
We are incredibly grateful to all of you who have already supported us but we need a little more help to make our baths the brilliant and beautiful building we all deserve.
For a minimum donation of £25 you can sponsor a tile that will be part of a permanent mural on public display in our beloved baths.
Each handmade tile will be 5cm by 5cm and engraved with a name of your choosing (one name per tile). You can sponsor a tile for yourself or your pet (just enter your pet’s name AND your surname please), or as a unique gift for a friend or family member. The tiles will also make a touching memorial for someone you have lost. If you want to sponsor more than one tile, we will make sure they are together side by side.
Your tile will also be part of an online mural on our website.
If sponsoring as a gift, commemorative certificates are also available for you to give to the recipient for them to keep.
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Latest Images Shed Light on Works
12th December 2021
The latest images of the refurbishment work show the amount of progress which has been made. Part of the roof of the building has now been removed, in order to make way for the creation of a new floor. These stunning photos are the work of Becky Duncan (Open Aye Photography), who is documenting the entire refurbishment process. For more photos, check out our social media pages.
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Construction Timelapse Installed
18th May 2021
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We are excited to show you our timelapse system, which will capture the repairs to our roof. The camera will capture a shot every 5 minutes (during working hours) for the next 4 months. We hope to create a wee video of the results, which we will be sure to share with you! Thank you so much to our lovely neighbour Susan for letting us use her living room window. In the photo you can see Susan’s cat Kaiyah inspecting our handiwork.
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Refurbishment Work Begins!
29th March 2021
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We are delighted that ownership of the Govanhill Baths was passed into community hands last week, almost 20 years to the day since protesters first occupied the building on March 21st 2001 in an attempt to prevent it from closing. Twenty years of determination and hard work later, and Govanhill Baths Building Preservation Trust, which is managing the refurbishment, finally has the money in place to begin. Clark Contracts have been appointed and excitingly work has already started.
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Jean Adair, Govanhill Local resident, who was at the centre of the occupation in 2001 and has been part of the campaign since then, posed with the keys, alongside the contractors. Jean said “Govanhill came together to save its pool, and Govanhill won – we got our Baths back!”
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Govanhill Baths Community Trust would like to thank all of the funders and backers who have generously supported the project, including: the Scottish Government, National Heritage Lottery Fund, National Lottery Communities Fund, Glasgow City Council, Historic Environment Scotland, Sportscotland, The Robertson Trust, William Grant Foundation, Hugh Fraser Foundation, The Pilgrim Trust, The Garfield Weston Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Trust.
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Govanhilll Baths Time Capsule
15th February 2021
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We are very excited about the upcoming plan to instal a time capsule inside Govanhill Baths! The time capsule will be placed in the basement of the building, with instructions not to open it for 100 years. We want people in 2121 to know all about the history of the baths, but also about what life was like for us now. That is why we have reached out to the community to gather predictions for the future, and records of Govanhill in 2021. These contributions will sit alongside items from the Govanhill Baths Archive, information about the refurbishment, and items which reflect the diversity of the communities that make their homes in Govanhill.
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We were very excited the other week to receive some submissions for the capsule from Holy Cross Primary School. The pupils were tasked with coming up with some future predictions, as well as recording what life is like for them. Some of their imaginative suggestions can be seen in this short video, which our Learning & Outreach Officer, Katherine, made for them to say thank you:
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Check back in a few weeks to read more updates about the project!
Govanhilll Baths receives £100k from sportscotland
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Govanhill Baths Building Preservation Trust were delighted to hear that they had been awarded £100, 000 towards the refurbishment of the baths building from sportscotland. The funding will be used to purchase gym equipment, create a yoga/dance studio, and improve the accessibility of the refurbished building. David Cook, project director for Govanhill Baths Building Preservation Trust, said: “We’re delighted to secure this vital funding, particularly as it will help to widen out the sports and wellbeing activities across the very diverse communities of Govanhill.”
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