Missing statue number two
At some point in its history a statue of Hebe, the Greek goddess of youth, arrived in the waiting room (by now commonly referred to as the lounge) of the Baths. It was approximately 4 feet in height, stood on a pedestal, and was a reproduction of an original work by Antonio Canova found at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. The statue was not there when the baths opened, unlike the statue of a diver which was damaged in 1921 and subsequently disappeared. The latter is mentioned in the very lengthy description of September 1900 of the newly-renovated building while the former is not, and it is not shown in the earliest known photo of the lounge which is believed to date from that same time.
The statue is first seen in a photo from 1932 but it seems likely that the statue arrived in 1919 when the ground floor became a new suite of medical baths. At this time the door with the lettering was created so providing something to fill the area between that and the existing door (just visible to the left of the statue) would make sense. It was long assumed that it was was removed when the swimming bath was converted to a theatre in 1945 but recent research has shown otherwise.
The minutes of the Spa Medical Advisory Committee of October 1945 recorded: ‘The Health & Holiday Resort Sub-Committee had considered the suggestion that the statue in the lounge be removed but they were not entirely in agreement therewith. They had decided that statue be taken from its pedestal and placed on an angle bracket in a position adjacent to that which it now occupied and it was hoped that this would meet the views of the Advisory Committee.’
This suggestion does not appear to have been carried out as a photo of the lounge from 1950 shows Hebe still in situ on her pedestal. She was not to remain there much longer. The October 1952 minutes of the Health & Holiday Resort Committee stated: ‘To relieve congestion in the lounge during intervals when coffee and licensed refreshments were being served, the Civic Playhouse Committee requested the removal of the statue. Resolved – that the Borough Surveyor arrange for its removal and storage.’
As it is never referred to again it has to be assumed that the Borough Surveyor put the statue of Hebe into a council storage facility. Its current whereabouts are unknown and it is not on view in any council-owned building.
Yet more floods
1979
20 July 2007
On Monday 25 June the staff turned up at the theatre to discover there had been a small flood overnight in the front lounge bar and green room due to heavy rain. The water had already receded so the filthy wet carpets were rapidly removed and some large dehumidifiers brought in to remove any water. The auditorium, dressing rooms and foyer were untouched so that week’s production of Twelfth Night opened as planned on the Wednesday albeit with a slightly damp smell in the air.
No one had any idea that this was merely a precursor to something much more serious.
The weather the week commencing Monday 16 July was almost constant rain which was falling on already sodden ground so when Friday brought the heaviest rains the scene was set for the building’s worst flood since 1855. At 1 pm phone calls came in from volunteers in Bishops Cleeve to say they didn’t think they’d be able to help with front of house that night as the roundabout at Smiths Industries was already underwater. Just two hours later a fast flowing river of water came along Bath Parade then towards the lower lying theatre and neighbouring properties. The dehumidifiers were quickly raised onto higher surfaces but within 30 minutes the water was knee high in the front lounge bar.
We’re grateful to Mark Watts-Jones for permission to include this video he shot on the day in question; the theatre is the building to the left.
Because the carpets were already up in the green room where much of the floor was wooden a lot of the water simply disappeared into the tunnels beneath the building that carried the pipework for the old baths and swimming pool. The cellar filled rapidly due to the beer hatch and an incredibly loud crash a short while later announced that its ceiling had collapsed. The water continued to rise outside and came further into the building, the vehicles that decided to drive through the deep floodwater serving to help it inch towards the auditorium. The orchestra pit was open containing electric guitars and keyboards so these were soon placed up on the stage; the danger at this point was that if the water got to the pit itself it would simply spill down the sides into the old swimming bath stuffed full of furniture and props
A combination of planks and wooden trunks were hastily assembled from the workshop and scenery store to divert the water away from the pit, creating a river that ran straight through the dressing room corridor and out of the stage door. While the main swimming bath was relatively unscathed the smaller family swimming bath under the dressing rooms which held a large number of costumes was not so fortunate. A large number of volunteers arrived the next morning to start the clean up to discover almost the entire ground floor covered with mud – or worse; the smell was horrendous. There was no carpet left in the building except for the foyer and box office by the end of the day.
The dehumidifiers still being on site from the first flood made life considerably easier and meant that when mains water was lost for several days the staff were able to use the huge amounts of clean water from the dehumidifiers – no good for drinking, but fabulous for washing your hair and flushing the toilets! Flood gates have now been installed on all doors and airbricks should the worst occur again; fortunately they have only been used once in the last 15 years and then only as a precaution.