As part of our 10th anniversary celebrations, we’re featuring ten ‘People of Moor Pool’.
Rob Sutton was the driving force behind the campaign to save Moor Pool’s community assets and was the first Chair of Moor Pool Heritage Trust. We caught up with him recently and asked him a few questions:
Moor Pool was our first home and, although I lived not far away, I was unaware of it. The boss had made the mistake of leaving me on my own one weekend and came back to find I had made an offer on a house. That was 1979 and we moved in 1980 and we have lived in the same house since. We had no central heating and just one socket upstairs and one downstairs and boy was the 1980 winter cold!
There are numerous reasons why Moor Pool is special but perhaps the most important is that it represents John Sutton Nettlefold’s vision for a better Birmingham after the poor housing and conditions which had followed the rapid growth of the city. Even now the concept is far ahead of the modern estates where properties are crammed in. We are extremely lucky to live here.
Well down on our allotment in the corner are a couple of chairs. The corner catches the sun, it’s quiet and tucked away where one can relax sometimes with a beer, catch the rays and quietly watch over the produce enjoying the sun in front of me. I can keep an eye on our little oak tree next to me and watch its steady progress too.
A special memory? Well discounting marrying the boss and birth of children, perhaps the most special moment was being able to tell all our volunteers and team that we had done it, that we had the funds to buy the community facilities. It was a very very emotional moment after all the challenges we had faced.
I’d like to think that in the checks and balances of what we all give and take in life, being part of saving Moor Pool was a nice contribution to the ‘give’ part and will be something for people to enjoy long into the future. I am sure everyone who was a part of that massive effort will have felt satisfaction that they contributed to it because at the end of the day it was a tremendous team effort.
The next 10 years? Well, there was unfinished business. Back in 2015 I felt it was time to step down. At times the whole process with the ups and downs had been extremely stressful and I needed to recharge – although as some are probably aware that was rather short lived. Had I carried on, getting the Builders Yard vision up and running would have been high on the agenda. The Eco Centre aspect has turned out wonderfully but the building itself is a marvellous opportunity. Secondly I think educating children about what makes a community is important. Whether as future architects, planners, civil servants or just buying a home, aspiring to better housing design than that currently encouraged by planning rules is important for the future. There is talk of garden suburbs but I don’t really think it is properly understood. They need to visit Moor Pool and then hopefully some of what they see will translate into what is needed in 21st Century housing or what they aspire to when looking for a home. And of course we need to think about our trees for the future.
