Hi,
If you have a question you would like to be asked at our upcoming All Colleague Briefings, there are anonymous question slips in staff rest areas that can be returned to a member of People & Culture or deposited in the black box outside of their office in Canalside (past the kitchen at the far end).
Alternatively, you can download the Q&A slip and email to [email protected].
If you have any questions, please contact a member of the People & Culture team.
Thank you.
Hi all,
The Programming team is looking for staff feedback on our Easter programme.
Please share any feedback you may have, whether you worked the event or came as a visitor – every little helps!
Thank you.
Our deaf Curating for Change Fellow, Claudia Davies, is carrying out a museum-wide project to tell the stories of D/deaf, neurodivergent and disabled people in the Black Country. We are currently seeking a co-production group to help Claudia with this project.
The co-production group will play a vital role in developing stories of disabled people in the Black Country, sharing lived experiences and opinions to:
To join the group, or to find out more, please email Claudia: [email protected] Applications from D/deaf, neurodivergent and disabled people living in the Black Country are actively encouraged.
Find out more about Curating for Change.
From this Monday, 17th April, the Museum’s impressive new Learning Centre will open within the renovated ground floor of Rolfe Street Baths.
From this date, the Museum’s Business Welcome Administrators (Tracy and Lana) will relocate to a desk within this Learning Centre, which will operate as both a Business Reception for the Museum and an information point for the Learning Centre itself.
The new location for all parcel deliveries and collections will now be this desk, which can be accessed with your staff card via the original, automatic glass doors at the entrance to Rolfe Street Baths.
All colleagues are reminded to collect parcels as soon as possible after notification of their arrival, as there is very limited storage space available.
Further policies and instructions will shortly be issued to colleagues advising of new requirements for Business Visitor and Contractors sign-in, as well as scheduling of on-site deliveries – all of which will be co-ordinated through Business Reception.
The Museum was pleased to welcome Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday 24 February as part of English Tourism Week 2023.
English Tourism Week, led by VisitEngland, celebrates the contribution of tourism to the UK economy and shines a spotlight on organisations, like the Museum, that offer great experiences for visitors.
The Prime Minister, who hadn’t previously visited the Museum before, had an exclusive first look at the next phase of our new development, met colleagues from across the Museum, went behind the counter at Hobbs, and hosted local councillors in the Elephant & Castle.
Speaking after the Prime Minister’s visit, Andrew Lovett (Chief Executive) said:
“We were very pleased to welcome the Prime Minister to the Museum. The choice of BCLM was championed by Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands. It coincided with English Tourism Week and provided an opportunity to highlight our latest developments and some of the Costumed Characters associated with the new storylines, some of whom the PM was delighted to meet.
“It also showed that public-sector investment in the Museum, including from the Culture Recovery Fund, to get us through Covid, was sound. I was pleased to let the PM know how strongly we were bouncing back after Covid.
“On behalf of the Museum, I want to thank everyone who was directly involved with the visit, in the planning and during, and to all staff who make the Museum successful and therefore, readily attractive to such high profile visitors.”
Andrew received a personal message from our local MP, Marco Longhi, who said that the team at the Museum makes him feel proud to be the MP of the area. Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, also shared that “The Museum team were brilliant”.
After his visit the Prime Minister said:
“It was wonderful to visit the award-winning Black Country Living Museum today. I met some brilliant people and managed to experience the delicious chippy.
“The Museum received a government grant of £2.56 million through the Culture Recovery Fund and it’s great to see it thriving so they can continue to employ uniquely skilled staff in the West Midlands.
“It’s so important to invest in places that define culture in all corners of the country, providing jobs and supporting the wider community. My focus is on growing the economy and places like Black Country Living Museum in Dudley will help do exactly that.”
Photographs from the visit:
As we continue to work on developing a new strategy for the Museum for 2024 onwards, now is your chance to get involved and tell us what matters to you.
Alongside all the great things we currently do, we have identified six ideas we’d like to get your input on by completing a short survey by clicking on the link below.
https://info746830.typeform.com/to/jgW5QWJr
Responses are anonymous and the survey will close on Friday 14 April 2023.
Please let us know if you require assistance or a hard copy of the survey by emailing [email protected].
Thank you.
Carolyn and Vicki
Co-Directors of Development
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of one of our longest-standing BCLM Community Advisory Panel members, Joanne Prescott.
Joanne joined the panel in 2015 and has been an integral member for over 7 years, also working for the local authority, Dudley Council and UCAS. Joanne’s contribution to providing external expertise and opportunities to link into new networks has been invaluable. Joanne was passionate about Black Country history, and a great advocate in sharing a wealth of knowledge with the Museum.
Joanne passed away after a short illness, which she endured with great courage and cheerfulness.
Her peers and the Community Engagement Team will greatly miss her.
Event overview
Date(s): Sun 19 and Thu 23 Mar
National Lottery Heritage Fund has made a significant investment in our brand new 1940s-60s development BCLM Forging Ahead. As our way of saying a big “Thank You” to our visitors and supporters, we are giving National Lottery players the opportunity to visit the Museum for free with two free entry days* on Sun 19 and Thu 23 Mar.
We’re also asking all staff to become UnChained Annual Pass champions for our upcoming National Lottery Open Days! As the general public are visiting us free of charge, we’re asking you to promote our UnChained pass to anyone you may interact with on Sun 19 and Thu 23 March. Be sure to tell visitors that if they purchase a full-priced ticket, they can return for 12 months completely free of charge!
To find out more about other organisations that are taking part, visit the Lottery Good Causes website.
Tickets for the National Lottery Open Days must be pre-booked in advance via our website. Visitors simply need to show their valid National Lottery play (either an in-app play, scratch card or Lottery play) along with their timed entry booking slot on arrival.
Thank you.
As there are a number of elected Staff Consultative Forum Representatives whose term is coming to an end, we would like to invite nominations for the following constituent posts:
The Forum plays a key communication and discussion role in many significant matters affecting all colleagues across the Museum. Dates of the SCF meetings for this year can be found here.
If you would like to be considered as a Staff Consultative Forum Representative, you will need a colleague from the same constituency as you to propose your nomination and the name of another colleague, again within the same constituency, who seconds the nomination. Unsure about which Constituency you fall under? Find out here.
The closing date for nominations has been extended to Friday 17 March. Elections will be held following this date if we have multiple candidates for a single role.
To put yourself forward, please complete and return a nomination form (which can be found here) to the People & Culture team (based at Canalside) either by hand, deposited in the black post box outside the People & Culture office, or via email to [email protected]. All employees are eligible to apply, with the exception of the Leadership Team. Casual Workers may only apply to represent the Casual Worker constituency.
As a reminder, the current Staff Consultative Form Representatives are:
| Constituency | Staff representative(s) |
| Administrative, Specialist & Managerial | Joe Whitehouse
Lisa Bates |
| Enterprise (F&D, Admissions, Retail) | Pam Woodall*
Carla Jasper |
| Historic Characters | Lee Adams*
Dan Williams* Greg Dunn |
| Maintenance | Matt Hunton* |
| Casuals | David Ball*
Vacancy x 1 |
| *First term coming to an end therefore constituent post up for nomination. | |
Under the terms of the Staff Consultative Forum Constitution, representatives can stand for two terms. Current representatives who are reaching the end of their first term and would like to stand for another term will be required to complete the usual nomination process and will be subject to election if necessary.
