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Category: General News

  • UPDATE: We have a winner for DCT Real Ale Festival Tickets

    UPDATE: We have a winner for DCT Real Ale Festival Tickets

    Dudley Canal Trust have kindly provided the Museum with 2 complimentary tickets for their Real Ale Festival which is taking place between 28 June and 1 July, including 2 free drinks!

    To be in with a chance of winning this pair of tickets, please send your name and contact details to [email protected] or pop up to see us in Rolfe St and let either Carmel or Michaela have these details by 5pm on Thursday 22 June.

    Names will then be selected randomly and the winner announced on the intranet.

    Best of luck!

    Update 23/06/2017:

    Natalie Banks from our Bookings team has been drawn as the winner of the 2 complementary tickets and 2 free drinks per person for the Dudley Canal Trust Real Ale and Cider Festival taking place between 28 June and 1 July 2017.

    Have fun Natalie!

  • Carers Day – Sun 11 Jun

    A carers event will be taking place at the Museum on Sun 11 Jun (10:30am – 3:30pm) to celebrate Carers Week.

    The aim of the day is to celebrate people that provide unpaid care and support to a loved one, relative, friend or neighbour.

    Activities include: performance by DYnamics Rock & Pop Choir; traditional rag rugging workshop sessions; and a carers information market in the main visitor reception.

    All activities are free of charge, however normal admission prices will apply if visitors wish to visit the Museum.

    One essential carer can go free when accompanying the person they are caring for.

    Advance booking is essential.

    Visitors are being asked to contact Dudley Carers Network on 01384 818723 for more information.

    If you would like more information about Carers Day please contact Glenis Williams.

  • Life’s a Beach – Black Country Touring Performance

    Black Country Touring will be rehearsing and performing a new show at the Museum this month. The new show will be launched at the So Festival in Skegness in July 2017 and will draw on stories of seasonal visitors and year round residents. The show will be performed in three specially created caravans.

    The Museum are hosting Black Country Touring for their rehearsal period (Mon 5 Jun – Thu 29 Jun) in the compound behind Old Birmingham Road and they will be hold two preview days on Sat 24 & Sun 25 June for visitors and VIPs.

    Admission Details

    Normal entry charges apply for visitors. Actors, support crew and VIPs for the performance will sign in at Reception.

    Car/Coach Parking

    Main Car Park Available. Parking charge on Main Car Park applies for visitors, actors, support crew and VIPs will be provided with tokens at Reception.

    Rehearsal Period

    Staff and volunteers are welcome to visit the caravans during rehearsal and speak to Black Country Touring about the project.

    Black Country Touring will be using the rooms above Doos for breaks as well as storing a limited amount of costume in the costume room.

    Performance

    There will be a series of performances on 24 & 25 June. The caravans will be moved to the Limekilns at the  back of the WI and visitors will be encouraged to drop in and experience the show.

    Black Country Touring will invite a limited number of VIPs to the preview.

    There will be BSL Interpreters available on Sunday 25 June.

     

    Food & Drink Offer

    Ice Cream near the WI for the 24 & 25 June to link to the performances.

  • Staff Consultative Forum – 6 June

    Staff consultative forum will take place on Tuesday 6 June where your representative Josefine Frank will bring up any issues that you may have.

    These meetings are designed to give you a chance to be listened to as well as have your say on a range of topics. If you’ve got any suggestions, please put them to Josefine in advance. These could centre around making things run a little bit better, asking for clarification on a certain topic or just suggestions for improving your work environment.

     

     

  • It’s Dementia Awareness Week!

     

    Dementia Awareness Week is here and from 14-20th May and were asking everyone to unite against dementia.

    Dementia is set to be the 21st Century s biggest killer. But together, we can raise awareness, offer help and understanding and urgently find a cure.

    BCLM will be hosting two interventions to show support for the week by hosting an information stand in the main reception on Tuesday 16th  May 11.30-1.30pm.

    On Wednesday 17th May 9.30am-4.00pm we will be working with Alzheimer’s Society to facilitate an information stall in the visitor reception area and a pop up café. The café will be open from 10.30am-12.30 & 2.00-4.00pm in the Brook entrance on site.

  • Cyber Security – an update

    In light of the current high-profile cyber attacks affecting the NHS along with hundreds of other organizations around the world, I thought I’d share some friendly best practice reminders to help keep the museum’s systems secure.

    A key fact to remember about the recent attacks – they all appear to stem from just a single employee’s actions, often opening an infected email attachment, clicking a bad link or inserting an infected USB drive. They are generally untargeted, being sent as far and wide as possible meaning they can infect all computers, no matter who they belong to.

    The museum has lots of protections in place including comprehensive backups but the most effective protection against any threat, keeping us one step ahead of the criminals is you.

    • Never open attachments or click on links in email messages unless you are absolutely certain the sender is genuine. Spelling mistakes, poor quality images, and strange layouts are often clues somethings not quite right.
    • Use best practices for creating strong passwords.
    • Never share passwords with anyone, including co-workers.
    • Try to send as little sensitive information as possible via email, and send sensitive information only to recipients who require it.
    • Exercise caution using pen drives/USB sticks. Never plug in a drive you’ve found or from other uncertain origins. The IT department can assist with checking and cleaning.
    • Remember, it is against the law to store any unencrypted personal data on removable storage; this includes CDs, DVDs, pen drives, portable hard disks and mobile devices such as phones and tablets.

    If you have questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to ask.

    Andy – [email protected]

  • For Information – Overhead power cable management

    As a result of an incident at the Museum, in which nobody was injured, we are working with the Health and Safety Executive to review our overhead power cable management, operation of associated vehicles and management of contractors involved with their management and repair.

    We will be carrying out a number of actions over the coming weeks to meet the requirements of the Health and Safety Executive’s Improvement Notice.  If you wish to discuss any of the planned actions further or see a copy of the Improvement Notice, please speak to your line manager.

  • Stan & Ollie Filming at BCLM

    As you may be aware, we will be hosting some filming this week for a new feature film depicting the lives of Laurel & Hardy, Stan & Ollie. This filming will be taking place Friday 12 May (during opening hours on the 1930s St) and on Sunday 14 May (after we close in the main st and possibly the fairground).

    What does this mean for you?

    The Unit base for this filming will be arriving into the main car park this evening at approx 8-9pm and as such, staff will not be able to park in the LH side are of the car park between Friday morning and Sunday evening. Please park in the main area of the car park as close to the railings as possible during this time.

    Access to staff offices/places of work in the village will still be possible on Friday 12 May but can staff based on site please be aware of the filming when accessing your offices/places of work?

    What does this mean for our visitors?

    There will be plenty of BCLM filming staff working with the film crew to control visitor flow on Friday 12 May and whilst visitor access to the 1930s st will be limited on that day, it will still be possible in between filming takes – this will be communicated to visitors on an A Board in admissions. Hobbs fish & chip shop will be closed and the Village Fried Fish Shop opened between 12noon and 4pm as an alternative.

    St James School will still be running school lessons on Friday 12 May and the majority of shops on the 1930s street will remain open.

    There will be some set up taking place during opening hours on the afternoon of Sunday 14 May but again, there will be BCLM filming staff on hand to keep this to a minimum.

    What does this mean for the Museum?

    Filming like this supports three of the Museum’s strategic aims as set out in our strategic plan 2015-20. It helps diversify and generate income, achieve national exposure and in the longer-term, helps us to continue to grow our visitor numbers. Your support in this work is therefore, much appreciated.

    What do you need to do?

    Please focus on keeping the impact of the filming to a minimum for our visitors on Friday 12 May. Feel free to tell them what’s going on but if you do get anyone that wants to know more or is unhappy about the filming, please point them in the direction of the Duty Manager.

    Image Credit (Birmingham Mail)

  • Apply Now to Attend the AIM Conference on 22 June

    All staff are invited to apply for the opportunity to attend this year’s Association of Independent Museums (AIM) Conference which is being held at The Historic Dockyard in Chatham this year.

    This is a great opportunity to learn more about the world of independent museums and to network and hear from speakers on a range of topics.

    Costs for attendance as well as all travel and accommodation expenses will be met by the Museum. You can find further details can be found here: https://aimnationalconference.wordpress.com/contact/

    Please fill out this form AIM application 2017

    All applications should be approved by your line manager and returned to HR by the closing date of 12 noon on Thursday 11 May 2017.

  • We welcomed our 9 millionth visitor!

    Grandparents Jane and Simon DeVillanueva, daughter Emma Ensell and Granddaughter Grace Ensell got a big surprise on Thu 4 May – they were the 9 millionth visitor to Black Country Living Museum! We greeted the lucky family who were then led by Dan to an exclusive VIP ride from Jordan and Ray. They also received free membership to the Museum, fish and chips, drinks in the Bottle & Glass Inn and voucher for the Museum’s gift shop.

    Andrew greeted them at the bottom of the site were they posed for a photo. As it turns out, the family first visited in the early 80s and Emma, born in 1978 when the Museum opened, had last visited around 10 years ago.

    What a lovely surprise! It sounds cliché but we never win anything! We’ve really enjoyed the VIP treatment – especially the drive around the Museum in the vintage cars. We’re excited to explore the rest of the Museum as we haven’t been in quite a few years. Now with this pass we can come back whenever we like for the entire year – bonus!

    Emma

     

     

    Did you know?

    Black Country Living Museum officially opened 39 years ago, welcoming 8,800 visitors in its first year