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  • December opening – an invitation to colleagues

    December opening – an invitation to colleagues

    This is an invitation for you and your household to join us on our December opening days

    If you’d like to visit the Museum on any of our open days in December, all colleagues are welcome to do so from 1.30pm onwards.

    As a reminder, we’ll be open for an outdoor-only experience on Sat 12, Sun 13, Sat 19, Sun 20 and then between Mon 21 and Wed 23 December inclusive.

    Attendance is free for all colleagues (both staff and volunteers) and their immediate household.  You will not need to use your allocation of staff tickets to attend, but please note that this invitation extends to you and your household only (you must be in attendance). 

    Please remember that you must adhere to all Tier 3 restrictions/guidance required of our visitors (including the Rule of Six and face coverings in Rolfe St) and that you will be unable to access staff areas during your visit.

    On the day, anyone who wishes to visit will need to join the public admission queue and register at admissions so that we can count your attendance and details in line with our legal obligations under NHS track and trace.

    In addition to being able to see the Museum at Christmas, colleagues visiting on an open day will be able to enjoy an enhanced festive discount with 25% off on gift shop purchases (excluding alcohol and Peaky Blinders-branded merchandise).

    We look forward to seeing you!

  • Pre-Christmas Outdoor-Only Opening: An Update for All Staff

    Pre-Christmas Outdoor-Only Opening: An Update for All Staff

    As you will be aware, due to Dudley being placed under Tier 3 restrictions we’re unable to proceed with our Christmas programme as originally intended – both for our Enchanted Christmas special event and our Unwrapping Christmas general admission visit.

    However, we want to play a role in supporting the health and wellbeing of our community in the run up to Christmas.  Therefore, as a heritage site, and line with current Tier 3 rules, we are able to open with an outdoor-only offer in December.

    How will outdoor-only opening work?

    On Sat 12, Sun 13, Sat 19, Sun 20, and then from Mon 21 to Wed 23 December inclusive, we will be able to welcome visitors who adhere to the Rule of Six to the Museum for an outdoor-only experience.

    Visitors will be welcome to visit and enjoy the Museum grounds and explore our outdoor site.  Opening in line with Tier 3 rules means:

    • There will be no visitor access to historic buildings, or any other indoor areas that are considered to be a visitor attraction
    • Indoor areas that can be accessed are limited to: Admissions, the Gift Shop, Catering on a takeaway only basis (including Hobb’s), and Toilets
    • The Bottle & Glass Inn will also remain closed as we are unable to offer a takeaway alcohol service on-site

    Visitors will be able to enter the Museum via a pre-booked ticket. Entry fees will be:

    • BCLM Members, UnChained Passholders, Business Partners can visit for free
    • Adults (16+) required to pay for entry can visit for £5 per adult
    • All children (15 yrs and under) will be admitted for free
    • All car parking charges are suspended during this period

    We believe the above offer makes visiting the Museum accessible, and good value for our local community at a time when many people may be looking for respite at this busy time of year. This limited-time visitor offer is designed to make the Museum a welcoming outside space where people can spend some time together in a Covid-safe manner.  It is not intended to be a like-for-like replacement of our full visitor programme. 

    We intend to send out public communications about the outdoor visit tomorrow and for bookings to open before the end of the week.

    How will staffing work for the outdoor only opening?

    Consequently, staffing during our open days will operate on a minimum basis in order to deliver an efficient admissions experience, the ability to operate a limited enterprise offer and, crucially, to ensure the safety of our visitors and colleagues on-site. 

    In addition to these core admissions and enterprise roles, we will deploy colleagues as uniformed stewards to help visitors to navigate the outdoor site.  The focus of the stewarding role will be on wayfinding and visitor safety, rather than storytelling related to the historic aspects of the site.  This means we will not deploy the costumed Historic Character role on outdoor-only days.  Nevertheless, there will be an opportunity for front-of-house staff – including members of the Historic Character team – to indicate their availability for stewarding shifts, should they wish to. Comms via PlanDay to follow.

    When will we be updated on arrangements for furlough and holiday?

    The People & Culture team are in the process of writing to all colleagues today with details of how furlough arrangements will work for each individual and the process for requesting annual leave over December and January.  Letters will be sent via email and physical post.  A member of your management team will contact you to agree a working pattern should you be required to work during this period and we will keep working patterns under continuous review. Should you have any questions arising from your letter, or if you have any other questions or concerns please email [email protected] and a member of the Museum team will respond.

    As well as being a time for joy, we know that Christmas can also be a difficult and emotionally-charged time of year.  This is likely to be particularly so for 2020, as everyone is faced with the consequences of the pandemic.  This is reminder that the Museum offers access to Employee Assistance Programme counselling service if you would like to talk to a trained counsellor about any worries you may be having concerning the impact of Coronavirus, whether work-related or not.

    When will the Museum close to visitors for 2020?  What’s happening about January shutdown?

    The Museum will close to visitors at 4pm on Wed 23 December and with a planned public re-opening on Sat 23 Jan 2021.  Further details on the Museum’s shutdown plans and training will be shared with all colleagues later this week.

    In the meantime, thank you to everyone for your hard work and continued perseverance.

  • Christmas Programme – important update

    Following the latest government announcement that the Black Country and surrounding areas are to be placed under ‘Tier 3’ restrictions, we are now unable to run our Christmas programme in the way that we had originally anticipated.

    Therefore, we’ve had to take the decision to cancel our Christmas programme – including both our ‘Enchanted Christmas’ event and the Unwrapping Christmas daytime offer.

    We know that many of you were looking forward to welcoming visitors to the Museum over the Christmas period.  Therefore, we’re looking at the possible ways that we can be here for our community in the lead up to Christmas with an alternative daytime opening that can operate under Tier 3 restrictions. 

    The Museum will now not re-open on Sat 5 Dec as originally planned, but we do intend to be open at some point later in the month. We’ll update colleagues with further details on this pre-Christmas opening plan as soon as possible.  Additionally, will write to all colleagues individually early next week to confirm the arrangements that will apply to furlough, pay, and holiday for December 2020.

  • Confidential: BCLM chosen as key site in vaccine roll out

    Confidential: BCLM chosen as key site in vaccine roll out

    CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION – NOT TO BE SHARED EXTERNALLY

    The Museum has been chosen as a key West Midlands site as part of the national roll out of the UK’s coronavirus vaccine programme.

    As a well-known landmark close to good transport links, BCLM proved to be a strong choice to support the work of the NHS in driving take up of the vaccine.  Therefore, we’re delighted to be able to play such a pivotal role in supporting the health and wellbeing of the local community.

    Work to set up the vaccination station at the Museum is currently at an early stage.  However, we will provide all colleagues with an updated and comprehensive FAQs on how the vaccination programme will be implemented on-site and how a full visitor offer will still operate alongside this vital effort to combat the virus as soon as possible.

    In the meantime, should you receive any approach from the media, please do not offer any public comment and refer the enquiry to Grant Bird (Head of Audiences & Communications) [email protected] or Natasha Eden (Chief Operating Officer) [email protected]. 

    A full public response on the how the Museum is playing its part to aid the NHS frontline will be issued in collaboration with the NHS in due course.

  • Support the Museum with Amazon Smile

    Support the Museum with Amazon Smile

    With Black Friday coming up if you are using Amazon for your shopping remember to shop using Amazon Smile!

    Using Amazon Smile is exactly the same as using Amazon, with the added benefit of a donation to your chosen charity. You can nominate BCLM as your charity and we’ll receive a donation each time you shop with Amazon Smile, at no extra cost to you.

    Simply sign up here: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/  and choose The Black Country Living Museum Trust as your charity.

    Thank you and happy shopping!

    – The Development Team

  • Important Museum Update – Tue 3 Nov

    Further to the Prime Minister’s announcement of a second national lockdown from 5 November until 2 December you will be aware that we will need to close the Museum to visitors during this time.

    We plan to reopen to visitors on the 5 December and welcome them back to our Unwrapping Christmas Programme and on the weekends of 12-13 and 19-20 we will still hold our Enchanted days as planned.

    We intend to make use of the Job Retention Scheme again and People and Culture, or your Line Manager will be in touch in coming days to help you to understand what this means for you and what your working pattern will be for November.

    During November we will return to staff only being on-site when absolutely necessary.  Should you need to be on-site during our temporary closure, this will need to be agreed with your line manager beforehand. Anyone entering the Museum will need to continue to follow all the Covid secure parameters already in place and keep in mind normal safeguarding measures.

    A huge thank you to everyone for making the last few months since we opened such a success – our visitor numbers for October half term (when we sold out every day!) are only one measure of how much our visitors and communities value what we offer and show what a brilliant job everyone has made of controlling what is in our power to control – creating lasting and living memories of the Black Country.

    Thank you again for all your efforts and continued support.

  • Government announcement of national November lockdown

    The Prime Minister has announced a second national lockdown commencing Thursday 5th November, requiring the Museum to close temporarily to visitors.

    The Museum’s Leadership and Management teams are meeting early w/c 2 Nov to understand and interpret the restrictions and formulate plans for the coming weeks.

    We will communicate with you all about how we will proceed as soon as possible.

    Staff who were expecting to be at the Museum between Monday 2 and Wednesday 4 Nov can still be on-site as planned. Please do contact your line manager if you have any questions ahead of a further Museum update.

    Thank you all for your continued support.

  • Staff Tickets – An Enchanted Christmas

    If you would like to purchase staff tickets for An Enchanted Christmas, please see the below information about how to purchase.

    • Tickets will be available for this event from Thursday 22nd October. You will need to go to the Admissions desk between 9am – 9:30am on weekdays that the Museum is open, or purchase by phone 10am – 4pm each day 0121 520 8054. Please note that no tickets will be available for purchase at the weekends due to the allocation being handled by S&T.
    • Staff will receive 50% discount off the price of each event ticket.
    • Each member of staff may purchase up to four tickets (of any combination) per event (not per day) at the discounted rate, and may purchase a maximum of two additional tickets at the standard rate.
    • Staff are required to provide their name, home address and contact details to purchase tickets, as is standard of any customer. On the date of the event, any visitors holding staff tickets (including staff members themselves) must join the normal admissions queue for that event. Staff tickets do not provide fast track entry.
    • Staff cannot purchase tickets on the behalf of another staff member.
    • Staff tickets cannot be held or reserved without payment.
  • New donation of objects guidelines

    New donation of objects guidelines

    The Collections Care and Management Team are once again accepting donations of objects to the collection. During Covid-19 special measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of both donors and museum staff.

    As such, the following process for collecting of objects will be followed.

    Donating an Object to Black Country Living Museum     

    Before bringing or sending an object to the museum the potential donor will first need to contact the Collections Care and Management Team via one of the following ways:

    Email: [email protected]

    Post: Collections Care and Management Team, Black Country Living Museum, Tipton, Dudley DY1 4SQ

    Phone:  0121 557 9643 – Extension 3

    If anyone is approached by a member of the public with an offer of an object for the collection, can they please guide them to the collections page on the website which gives all of the information needed to be able to make an offer.

    Unfortunately, any items that have not been approved via email or letter by a member of the Collections Care and Management team will not be accepted.

    A list of the objects we are and are not currently collecting can be found at below for guidance, as can two workflows setting out the process of managing offers.

    Objects not accepted for donation

    Objects considered for donation

    Collections Care Object Workflow

    Collections Care Object Workflow – BCLM Forging Ahead

  • BCLM receives support from Culture Recovery Fund

    BCLM’s application to the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) has been successful and a grant of £2.56m has been awarded to further help the Museum face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

    This financial support, administered by Arts Council England (ACE), will help to safeguard the Museum during these most challenging of times.   Since reopening in August, following five months of closure due to Covid-19 restrictions, we’ve been operating with strictly capped visitor attendance – resulting in audiences at less than half of the level seen in previous years.  A lack of demand from educational groups due to Covid has also contributed to significantly lower attendance – particularly during term time week days.   

    As an independent charity which receives 94 per cent of its income from visitors, the temporary closure and reduced visitor numbers have had a serious impact on the Museum’s short and medium-term financial position. Therefore, support from the Culture Recovery Fund will play a vital role in helping us to remain operational and able to serve our community; and while this is obviously fantastic news, we will still need to evolve to meet the challenges ahead.

    Watch a short video statement from Andrew below, or you can directly link to the video on our YouTube Channel here:

    Commenting on the award, Andrew said, “We’re incredibly grateful for the support given to the Museum, ultimately by the people of the UK, as a result of our successful application to the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.  Prior to the pandemic, BCLM was justly proud of its contribution as an independent heritage business to the region’s identity and economy.  These funds will help us to adapt to survive in the short term, so that we can thrive and grow with our community in the long term. 

    “Prior to COVID-19 this Museum was enormously successful.  This critical funding provides the means to be successful once more.  As Chair of the Association of Independent Museums, I also recognise and welcome the positive impact of the Culture Recovery Fund for hundreds of museums across England and the value attached to them by millions of visitors.”

    Lowell Williams, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said, “This decision is a massive vote of confidence in the Museum. It reflects our value to people and the strength and optimism of the organisation.” 

    The full public press release can also viewed on our website’s News Page here.

    Other Midlands organisations including Ironbridge Museums, Birmingham Hippodrome, THSH, and Birmingham Museums Trust have been awarded grants from the Culture Recovery Fund. Given the support for the region’s cultural sector, it’s unsurprising that there’s a great deal of local media interest. Therefore, it’s likely that the Museum will feature online and in local TV news in the coming days, so please keep a look out. We’ll also post updates on this to the intranet.