News
Museum’s Most Ambitious Project Unveiled to Visitors
by BCLM
The Black Country Living Museum today unveiled one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken in its 34 year history - The Oldbury Buildings. Professor Carl Chinn M.B.E. performed the official opening in a ceremony at the Dudley Museum on the 16th of July 2010. The final phase of the Museum’s Streets Ahead development programme has created four more shops and five domestic interiors in its new 1930s High Street – Old Birmingham Road.
Built with a £132,550 grant from The Veolia Environmental Trust, awarded through the Landfill Communities Fund, The Oldbury Buildings have been reconstructed from numbers 12,14,16 and 18 Birmingham Road in Oldbury. The Trust’s grant, matched by contributions from the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust, Charles Hayward Foundation, Douglas Turner Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Patrick Trust and The Owen Family Trust, as well as a significant contribution from the Museum’s own funds, bring to life a builders and plumbers merchant, a motorcycle dealers, a tobacconist and a radio store.
David Eveleigh, Curator of the Black Country Living Museum said: ”These four smoke blackened shops from the Black Country are important because they are so ordinary. Buildings like this once typified Black Country towns but industrial decline created an urgent need to record and preserve the fabric of these old towns.”
The radio dealer will introduce Museum visitors to the story of mass communication during the thirties whilst the small independent tobacconist alludes to a touch of Hollywood glamour at a time when the potential health risks of smoking were largely unknown. Locally built motorcycles line the window of the motorcycle shop and tell the tale of this important manufacturing success story and the builders and plumbers merchants gives a style snapshot during the house building boom of the 1930s.
The Executive Director of The Veolia Environmental Trust, Margaret Cobbold, said: “The Trust works to support community and environmental projects across the UK. The reconstruction of The Oldbury Buildings is an excellent example of how Landfill Communities Fund can help preserve our heritage, and bring it to life, for future generations. It’s great to see this exciting and important project being opened.”
Andrew Lovett, Director and Chief Executive of the Black Country Living Museum said: “The Black Country Living Museum has an international reputation for the preservation of buildings and for authentically rebuilding them at the Museum. The generous contributions made by our donors have allowed us to accurately reconstruct another fascinating part of Black Country history.”
Please click on the link below to view a video of the opening of the Oldbury Buildings.
KIDS GIVE THE THUMBS UP TO BLACK COUNTRY TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
by Heart of England
Black Country Living Museum and Dudley Zoo have been voted as two of the top ten tourist attractions in the West Midlands, by children and parents from the region.
West Midlands Safari Park was voted in at the top spot in the poll by both parents and children. Black Country Living Museum came in at 10th with kids and 4th with parents, whilst Dudley Zoo ranked 7th with children.
At the other end of the scale, the worst days out, as voted for children, included ‘going shopping with mum’, ‘visiting grandma’ and ‘going to farms, because they are smelly’!
The study was carried out by Advantage West Midlands to find out where children and parents from the Heart of England, the West Midlands region, loved to go on a day out with their family.
Head of Tourism and Culture at Advantage West Midlands, Nigel Russell, comments: “The Heart of England has a variety of great tourist attractions for all ages. From theme parks and zoos to museums and galleries, we believe it’s vital to raise awareness of the great family offering with people planning to visit the region.
“We decided to carry out this study to find out from children first-hand which tourist attractions they love so they can pass on their personal recommendations to visitors. The aim is to create a ‘Kids out Guide’ to be downloaded from visittheheart.co.uk, providing top tips on the best places to go as voted for by real people from the Heart of England.”
The study was carried out in February and March 2010, at Brownie and Scouts groups in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Coventry, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Birmingham and the Black Country. -ENDSNOTES
Issued on behalf of Advantage West Midlands by McCann Erickson PR. For further information contact Madeleine Birch on 0121 713 3767 madeleine.birch@europe.mccann.com
Museum Unveils New Exhibition
by BCLM
The Black Country Living Museum has teamed up with Smethwick Heritage Trust to present a new exhibition entitled ‘Smethwick’, as part of the Museum’s permanent display ‘Heart of the Black Country – The Black Country and You’.
The exhibition traces the history of Smethwick from its development as a modest hamlet at the time of the Doomsday Book, to its growth as an industrial boomtown during the first half of the twentieth century, through to its gradual decline in 1966 when local industries went into decline and Smethwick lost its County Borough Status.
Mary Lee from Smethwick Heritage Trust said:”Artifacts give an insight into Smethwick’s diverse past and famous industries from the town’s heyday narrate the story of the part Smethwick played during the Industrial Revolution.”
Ruskin Pottery, Glass by Chance Brothers, Tangye Brothers who invented the Hydraulic Jack, Averys who made weighing machines and GKN are all represented. Evoking all the atmosphere of the area’s rich industrial heritage, the display captures the real-life memories of the people and industries of the town.
‘The Black Country and You’ plays host to a diverse and changing programme of exhibitions from community, local history and special interest groups. The displays ensure the Museum reflects the wider community of the Black Country and communicates their individual stories to Museum visitors. For more information email info@bclm.co.uk.
