After a week of bank holidays, parades and street parties, we would like to thank all those who helped to make our May half-term “Bostin’ Jubilee Bash” a success. The atmosphere on site was wonderful, and it was so lovely to see both visitors and staff getting into the Jubilee spirit.
The half-term holiday saw the Museum welcome over 16,000 visitors – smashing the budgeted 12925.
A huge thank you to all involved.
Action for Happiness is a movement of people committed to building a happier and more caring society.
Each month they release a “Monthly Action Calendar” which is packed with actions you can take to help create a happier and kinder world.
This month’s theme is Joyful June: Let’s look for what’s good.
Let’s all use their calendar below, or the Action for Happiness App, to do more good this month.
Find out more about Action for Happiness and view their previous monthly action calendars.
This year’s May half term, inspired by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, is celebrating all things royal with a look back at historic Jubilees and Coronations! Visitors have been invited to don their best red, white and blue outfits to help us in celebrating the legacies of monarchs past and present. There will be a daily street party in the village, a parade and lots of activities for visitors to get involved with. Today the final decorations have gone up – a huge well done to all teams involved for their help with getting the site decorated and ready for a week of right royal fun!
Alongside our busy preparations for the week ahead, today we also welcomed Channel 5, who filmed a piece on the Migration stories we will be telling throughout the Jubilee week for their national news programme. Mr Praveen Singh, a character based in part on the memories of Mr Piara Singh, who migrated to Wolverhampton from India at 18 years of age in 1951, will be introduced this week as part of our May half term programme. Mr Singh will be a part of the community preparing for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and plays a pivotal role in the Museum beginning to tell stories of migration to the UK in the 1950s and 60s.
To support the development of this character, BCLM have collaborated alongside actor and creator Vimal Korpal, who has workshopped both the character of Mr Singh and the situations the character will be placed in, with the staff in our team of historic characters who will be portraying the role or playing alongside it. The crew at Channel 5 also spoke to Mr Piara Singh and his son Jim who came in to share their story as part of the wider piece. Thank you to everyone involved today who helped bring this story to life, we look forward to the future of Mr Singh here at the Museum. You can watch the full report here.
We are delighted to have made two appointments to the Museum’s Board of Trustees, who will be bringing a wealth of experience to the Museum. Read on below to find out more about each of our new Trustees, Louise and Tarlok.
Louise Jones
Louise is currently the Chief Finance Officer at Dudley College of Technology and has worked in the Further Education sector for over 20 years, in Birmingham and the Black Country. In addition to being a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, she holds a degree in Economics and Management from Cardiff University and a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education from Wolverhampton University. Louise has a keen interest in contributing to the regeneration of Dudley town centre through her work at the College and at the Museum, particularly ensuring that young people from all backgrounds are able to get full access to education and the important heritage of the Black Country.
Tarlok Singh Mander
Tarlok is a Chartered Global Management Accountant and works as a Finance Manager at Amazon where he is responsible for some of Europe’s largest warehouses. He has over a decade of experience working in finance functions across the public and private sectors, including at Network Rail and Jaguar Land Rover, with expertise in driving operational efficiencies and providing advice on large-scale capital projects. Tarlok grew up in Walsall and studied at Wolverhampton Grammar School after which he completed an undergraduate degree in Money, Banking and Finance at the University of Birmingham. Tarlok is a sports enthusiast and currently coaches boxing classes after competitively boxing for nine years himself.
We are delighted to welcome a number of new starters this month.
Carmel Roper joins us as Duty Manager, working alongside Kevin and John. Carmel has previous duty management experience with Compton Verney and Midlands Arts Centre and has also previously worked as a Tours Manager for the BBC.
Tracey Ledward and Lana Grinko join us as Museum Welcome Administrators and will support the new Visitor Welcome Centre when it opens. Both Tracey and Lana have a wealth of customer service and administration experience.
Louise Weaver joins us as a Site Cleaner. Louise has an array of experience having previously worked in hospital, schools, offices and hotel settings.
In addition we also welcome a number of new casual colleagues over the coming week within our Enterprise and Admissions & Welcome teams.
Jenny Gilbert, Researcher left on 13 May 2022 and is relocating with her partner to Sheffield.
Sara Gibbins, Visitor Receptionist, will be leaving at the end of her fixed term contract this month.
Other leavers include David Kruczek (Kitchen Manager) and Andrew Smith (Painter).
