When, in 1851, the Kidderminster Town Council first decided to build a public baths for the town, Kidderminster placed itself in the forefront of developments in public services and  public health – only a few of the very largest towns and cities in the country were even considering such a move. It gave the town its very first example of civic infrastructure

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The opening of the baths and the accompanying swimming pool was far from the end to the town’s appetite for innovation in this regard. A municipal Turkish baths followed in 1871, an open air pool in 1900 and a prototype lido in 1931. These were each novelties to which very few other small towns (or many much larger ones) could lay claim.

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However, the  argument about the building of a new baths  to replace the original one in Mill Street raged for decades before resolving itself after a titanic battle led to a new  facility in Castle Road in 1932.'Getting into the Swim’ tells the fascinating story of the people and the debates that led to that long-awaited resolution.

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The personalities and characters who illuminated Kidderminster in the last third of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth play their part – familiar names such as Talbot, Brinton, Adams, Tomkinson, Holloway, Edey, Tolley and others all make their appearances.

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The story also highlights the huge scale and scope of changes the town experienced through this period. The emerging role of women in the town and the workforce, changes in the attitude to education, the growth in population and changes in the electorate and local politics and even delicate issues such as Sunday observance shaped the arguments on the need for new baths.

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