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  • Christmas Programme 2021

    We’re so excited for Christmas to be back at the Museum this year! Our season of events has proven incredibly popular with Santa Hunts and Christmas nights selling out by the end of October.  We now have only limited tickets left for our brand-new experience, An Enchanted Christmas. Please read on to find out more about this year’s Christmas Programme.

    An Enchanted Christmas

    Having had to postpone from 2020, we’re looking forward to finally hosting An Enchanted Christmas, our completely new pre-ticketed event aimed at families and those visitors who consider themselves young at heart.

    On Sat 11th, Sun 12th, Sat 18th and Sun 19th December the Museum will be transformed for festive fun. Santa and his elves are busy preparing for Christmas, but the Rat King and his pesky partners are trying to sabotage the preparations! Visitors will have the chance to meet Christmassy characters, take part in activities and help the Nutcrackers save Christmas from the rats.

    We’ve created a storybook to help our visitors understand the different zones and characters that they’ll encounter. This experience will encompass the whole site, so we’d ask all teams to take a look at the storybook and find out what’s in store for this event. Follow the link to our website to view the storybook by clicking here:

    Read our Enchanted Storybook

    You can also watch our character video here: thanks so much to those that were involved with creating this film! This is a brand new event for us, which we think will attract new audiences to the Museum by providing something a unique experience that will enable families to enjoy the Museum in a different way.

    Santa Hunts

    Santa is making a welcome return to the Museum this Christmas, with a brand-new storyline for Santa Hunts for 2021.

    Our jolly vintage bus will collect visitors and take them to Santa’s workshop, but Santa’s fallen asleep thanks to the magical Christmas dust! With the help of the Museum’s elves, visitors will explore the Museum to hunt down festive ingredients to help wake up jolly old Saint Nick.

    Christmas Nights

    Proving incredibly popular with visitors and selling out in record time, we’re pleased to be welcoming visitors back for a cosy Christmas night on Fri 3rd and Sat 4th December.

    We’re inviting visitors to enjoy the atmosphere of Christmas on our gas-lit streets, explore decorated shops and houses and enjoy festive food and entertainment.

    Unwrapping Christmas – daytime general admission

    For our visitors that are simply looking to enjoy a festive step back in time during December, our general admission offer will be exploring a Black Country Christmas through time. From the traditional tales of a cosy Victorian winter through to a swinging 1960s Christmas, visitors can discover new stories and meet new historic characters this winter season.

    If you have any questions about any of our Christmas events, please do speak to Tom Dipple in the programming team.

  • BCLM Mental Health First Aiders

    A reminder of the support available to all colleagues at BCLM. Our team of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) are on hand to offer support as appropriate. If you click on their names below, you will see a brief bio of each.

    Carla Jasper
    Carla Jasper

    Contact: [email protected]
    Location on site: Main Reception/Admissions

    “     Hi, I’m Carla. I am the Area Lead for the Retail and Admissions Team and I have worked at the Museum for just under 2 years.

    My main hobbies include running, crafting, watching films and singing. These all make my heart happy. I also enjoy spending time with my friends and family when I am able to.

    Mental health is as important to overall health as is physical health, although we don’t treat is as such. I decided to become a Mental Health First Aider to support my colleagues during what has been and what may continue to be, a very trying time for everyone.     ”

    Dawn Hampton
    Dawn Hampton

    Contact: [email protected]
    Location on site: Rolfe Street Office

    ”     Hi, my name is Dawn. Many of you have seen me around the Museum, but for those who haven’t, I am part of the Finance Team.

    I have worked at the Museum since 2001 – starting in the Sales and Ticketing (Bookings) Office.

    I am currently studying for my AAT Level 3 at Dudley College, and enjoy volunteering with my daughter, at the Greyhound Trust on a Sunday, walking and feeding the dogs and cleaning their kennels.

    At the moment, we are still able to volunteer, and getting out has helped with our mental health during this pandemic.

    I am married and have two teenage children, and two greyhounds at home. Life is never dull!

    Being a Mental Health First Aider is very close to my heart, and I want people to know there is always someone there and to never feel alone.     “

    Hayley Boswell
    Hayley Boswell

    Contact: [email protected]
    Location on site: Canalside Office

    ”     Hi I’m Hayley, I work in the People & Culture Team and I have worked at the Museum for over a year. 

    Alongside full-time work, I am studying part time for my Level 7 CIPD Advance Diploma in Human Resource Management. This requires me to have strong organisational and time management skills to effectively manage my priorities at work and in my studies.

    In my spare time I enjoy keeping fit, walking and spending time with my family and friends.

    COVID-19 has disrupted important milestones and caused a lot of anxiety and stress for all of us. For me in particular, there has been significant disruption to my studies and I was faced with the difficult decision of postponing my wedding just a couple of months before I was due to get married.

    I became a MHFA to provide support to my colleagues and to help the Museum in its commitment to creating a health working environment.     “

    Jo Turner
    Jo Turner

    Contact: [email protected]
    Location on site: Hartills Office

    ”     Hi – I’m Jo and I’ve been Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive at the Museum for the past 5 ½ years, also providing support to the Board of Trustees and Leadership Team.  Previous to this I worked for children’s charities, supporting management and key workers with projects and services for young people, sometimes dealing with challenging and often traumatic issues.  One of the projects I supported introduced young people to new activities and experiences to help improve their mental health.

    Finding what brings you joy, what’s meaningful to you that gets you through the day or helps with a difficult situation can be really powerful.  For me, what’s got me through the last year and what helps with my own anxiety, has been staying connected to others, practising yoga and getting creative with crafts and DIY at home.  Getting outside more has also helped and I’m currently attempting the Couch-to-5K scheme to help improve my fitness.

    I also currently mentor 2 admin professionals outside of work, supporting them with the challenges they face in their roles, with personal issues and with their thoughts and hopes about the future.

    I wanted to become a Mental Health First Aider to support colleagues with their own wellbeing and to help the Museum with its commitment to creating a happy and healthy workforce.     “

    Lee Adams
    Lee Adams

    Location on site: Main Village

    “     Hi, my name is Lee, I work as part of the Historic Characters team. I have been at the museum for 5 years and enjoyed every minute.

    During lockdown I did an introductory course in child psychology to help my daughter with her anxiety. This course helped me to understand her worries and offer solutions.

    In my spare time, I love to read, knit and spend time with my family. Covid has definitely put a spanner in the works on my social life but it hasn’t stopped me chatting on the phone or online.

    I decided to become a Mental Health First Aider because I wanted to help others and give my support to them in any way I can.     ”

    Lewis Turner
    Lewis Turner

    Location on site: Bottle & Glass Pub

    “     Hi, I’m Lewis, I am the Area Lead in the Bottle & Glass. I’ve worked at the Museum for around four and half years now.

    Outside of work I’m a passionate Musician and I enjoy performing. I also try to make time to keep fit and exercise although, like many of you at the moment, this has been difficult to maintain a routine in due to COVID-19.

    I became a Mental Health First Aider, because I wanted to gain a stronger understanding of how to be most effective in providing support for my colleagues and friends.     ”

    Lindsey Butler
    Lindsey Butler

    Contact: [email protected]
    Location on site: Morralls Office

    “     Hi, I’m Lindsey one of the Team Managers for the Engagement and Operations team. I have worked at the museum for over 10 years and still love the day to day challenges that my role brings.

    I am a mom to two great kids, one grown up, and the other in school and still very much at home!

    My lifetime loves are singing and song writing and I am never far away from a good book. My lockdown hobbies, which thankfully I am still managing to find the time to do, are running, HITT and weight training. Without all of the above I know that my mental health would have seriously struggled throughout lockdown and beyond.

    I have in my lifetime had some “very wobbly moments” and like many, know that I am only a stone’s throw away from mental health conditions. Becoming a Mental Health First Aider will hopefully help me to better understand issues that could affect my colleagues, friends, family and even myself.     ”

    If you do decide to reach out to any of the MHFAs, please be assured that your contact and discussion will remain confidential between the two of you. They are able to listen if you simply want to share your concerns, but are also able to direct you to further appropriate support if you need it.

    As always the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) scheme is available for all. The EAP offers 24/7 support on a range of topics, including mental health, overall wellbeing, financial and legal support, etc. You can access this service by calling 0800 015 7287 and quoting “Black Country Living Museum”. Alternatively you can access the online portal by visiting www.colleaguesupport.co.uk, using ‘72160’ as your username and password.

  • Museum road safety update

    Dear colleagues,

    An important, timely reminder for everyone in order to ensure our safety around the museum site.

    For the full duration of each closed day at the museum through the winter period, our site roads are very much ‘live’ and can be busy with traffic at any time. The same goes for days that we open to the public, before 10am and after 4pm.

    Not only are the Forging Ahead contractors able to move around outside of their hoarding with heavy duty machinery during these times, but there’s also our own site maintenance vehicles and external deliveries too.

    With that in mind, please follow these simple steps to keep everyone safe;

    • Keep to pathways where available
    • If you see or hear traffic approaching, STOP, step to the side and WAIT until it has passed
    • Don’t wear headphones when walking around the site

    As a reminder, site traffic should maintain a 5mph limit at all times and personal vehicles should not be brought onto site.

    Finally, any construction vehicle or lorry reversing anywhere outside of hoarding/fencing should always have a ‘banksman’, in high-visibility clothing, stood at the rear of that vehicle. All members of the museum community should report to the Duty Manager where they don’t see this critical safety precaution in place.

    If you have any questions or queries in relation to the above, don’t hesitate to speak with your line manager who can signpost you to the best person to help.

    Thank you.

  • Car Parking – November

    Please be advised that Balfour Beatty are carrying out trenching works across the Museum’s car park for the next three weeks. The trench location will change daily. Please park where directed by Balfour staff when you arrive at the Museum.

  • Action for Happiness: New Ways November

    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 are packed with actions you can take to help create a happier and kinder world.

    This month’s theme is New Ways November, encouraging you to try something new!

    Learning something new is great for our wellbeing. Keeping our brains active is not only good for us physically but it can help you feel you are flourishing as you see yourself make progress with a new skill. And remember that it’s OK not to get it right first time – change “I can’t do it”, into “I can’t do it…yet!”

    This month’s calendar is full of ideas to help you decide what to do next, so let’s all use this, or the Action for Happiness App, to try something new this month.

    https://www.actionforhappiness.org/media/1056826/nov_2021.jpg
  • People News (Update 26/10/2021)

    People News (Update 26/10/2021)

    Farewells

    Mary Whitehouse

    Mary Whitehouse, our longest serving colleague, has decided to retire after 38 years of service and is leaving the Museum at the end of the month. Throughout that time, Mary has been an esteemed colleague and everyone, especially the Historic Character team, will be sorry to see her leave. Her warm personality, experience and exceptional knowledge will be missed by all. Mary has seen many changes to the Museum over the years and has worked in countless places across site. Throughout all this, her dedication and positive outlook haven’t faltered. We would like to thank Mary for everything she has done for the museum – for her many years of support and for bringing history to life for so many visitors.

    Mary is planning on spending some well-earned quality time with her husband John at their caravan in Wales. We wish her a happy and healthy retirement and hope to see her often when she visits.

    Other leavers this month are sadly the following:

    Abby Bird our Audience and Communications Manager is leaving the Museum later this month to relocate to Cornwall and work as a freelance consultant. Abby joined the Museum over 7 years ago and in that time has been an integral part of our marketing efforts. Most notably her amazing and innovative TikTok social media videos giving the Museum worldwide recognition. Abby’s creativity and enthusiasm will be very much missed, but we wish her the very best as she settles into the south coast.

    Kyron Nock, Enterprise Team Manager, left the Museum earlier this month, after almost 5 years’ service to further his career with Tesco. He will be managing the Café at their Dudley superstore, just up the road from the Museum! Kyron has been an established colleague within Enterprise and has worked closely with many teams around the Museum. We wish him the very best as he takes on his exciting new management post.

    Tracey Forrest, Historic Character, also left earlier this month. Tracey has been a key part of our Historic Character team since 2011 but has now decided to return to her former career in jewellery retail. She leaves with our sincere thanks and best wishes.

    Jean Homer, Enterprise Team, who most of you will know for her work in the sweet shop, has been with the Museum for 8 years and has decided to leave us to focus on enjoying home life. Jean’s experience in sweet making will be very much missed but we hope that Jean will return from time to time to share her skills with others.

    Martin Churchill from the Cleaning Team is retiring to spend more time with his wife. In the short term he will be sunning himself on a cruise booked for the new year. We wish Martin a long and healthy retirement.

    Welcomes

    New Casuals – Historic Character Team

    The following new casuals have joined our Historic Character team this month:

    Andrea Williams, Jack Fern, Lucy McWilliams, Emily Banks, Harun Bashir, Neil Fellows, and Jennifer Kettle.

    If you see any of our recent new joiners on site – please do be sure to say hello!

    Paul Crofts

    As referenced in an earlier update, Paul Crofts officially joined us last week, in the role of Chief Operating Officer, following a series of familiarisation days through September and October. You can read more about Paul’s role and his background on this intranet post.

  • All Colleague Briefings – Sign-up Required

    All Colleague Briefings – Sign-up Required

    As part of our continual Programme of ensuring engagement and communication of the Museum’s operational and strategic activity, we will be holding briefings to update all colleagues on the Museum’s progress since reopening in May of this year and the plans for 2022, a critical year for the launch of the first of the Forging Ahead buildings. These briefings will take place on:

    • Wednesday 3 November 2021
    • Thursday 4 November 2021
    • Thursday 11 November 2021

    All the briefings will be held in the WI and will commence at 9.15, finishing at 9.45.  Many of you will already be scheduled by your line managers to attend one of these sessions, if you have not then please volunteer your name on the attached sign up sheet.

    All contracted colleagues are mandated to attend these sessions. We would also strongly urge colleagues from both our volunteer and casual community to all attend.

    You only need to attend one of the briefing sessions.

    Refreshment will be provided in the WI.

    Can you please sign up using the following link: All Staff Briefings

    If you have any trouble signing up for the briefing because you do not have a BCLM email address then please speak to your line manager who will be able to add your name for you.

  • BCSC Online Talk – “The Black Country: Science Fact and Science Fiction”

    Join the BCSC and some fiendish friends for their second annual Halloween online event on Thursday 28 October at 7pm.

    This time around, they’ll be looking at the Black Country’s links with science fiction and exploring some of the weird and wonderful aspects of the region’s science facts. Expect monsters, mummies, mutants and menacing machines as they’re joined by University of Wolverhampton’s Dr Nicola Allen and Dr Martin Khechara, alongside BCLM researchers Dr Jenny Gilbert and Nadia Awal.

    From the virtual fireside, Nicola will set the science fiction scene and introduce the genre: its origins, development and characteristics. Jenny and Nadia will share some of their favourite Black Country sci-fi stories and Dr K will be exploring the science behind monsters, mutants and terrible triffids.

    There will also be an interactive quiz that will test your skills in telling scientific fact from fiction.

    Tickets for this online event are free and can be booked via the BCLM website here. Book now for a free, fun and informative night of spooky science!

  • Staff Consultative Forum – Nominations Open

    The Staff Consultative Forum (SCF) is a group of Museum wide colleagues to act as an important conduit and sounding board for many of the Museum’s key decisions around structure, policies, performance and wider activities that may impact staff. Chaired by the Museum’s Chief Executive/Chief Operating Officer, the Forum meets quarterly and particularly over the last 18 months has played a critical role in assisting the Museum’s endeavours to safeguard careers during the pandemic. The Forum’s members consist of an elected group of managers, front line colleagues and back office administrative staff to ensure representation of the whole Museum. Excluded from the membership are the Museum’s Leadership and People & Culture teams. The full terms of reference of the Forum can be found under the Documents tab here on the intranet (Documents/Information/Staff Consultative Forum (SCF)/Terms of Reference/Oct 2021).

    To ensure that the Forum remains fresh in its challenge and contribution, elected members can serve on the Forum for a maximum of two years per term and a maximum of two terms. As a result we would now like to invite nominations for the following posts*:

    • Administrative, Specialist & Managerial     x 1
    • Enterprise & Admissions     x 1
    • Historic Characters     x 1
    • Casuals     x 1

    If you would like to be considered as a Staff Representative, you will need a colleague from the same Constituency as you to propose your nomination and the name of another staff member, again within the same Constituency, who seconds the nomination.

    To put yourself forward, please complete and return a nomination form 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].

    The closing date for nominations is Wednesday 27 October 2021. Elections will be held following this date if we have multiple candidates for a single role.

    Unsure about which Constituency you fall under? Check the Constituencies paper saved on the Intranet (Museum Documents/Information/Staff Consultative Forum (SCF)/Constituencies) or contact the People & Culture team.

    *All contracted colleagues, bar the Leadership and People & Culture teams, are eligible to be nominated for any of the above Constituencies, excluding the “Casuals” Constituency. Casual colleagues are eligible to be nominated for the “Casuals” Constituency only.

  • #ProudToBe – Black History Month 2021

    This year’s Black History Month UK is celebrating the theme of ‘Proud To Be’. Across the country people are sharing their stories and inspiring others to take pride in Black history and culture.

    In collaboration with Rites of Passage Productions, Black Country Living Museum has produced four short films that celebrate the lives of four remarkable Black people. This work spans stories from the nineteenth century up to the present day and is designed to encourage us all to think about how we are making history all the time in our own ways.

    These videos will be premiering throughout this and next week – to view exclusive previews of all four films ahead of their launch, watch below!

    #ProudToBe RESILIENT – Cyrille Regis

    The first of our films is ‘Proud to Be Resilient’: featuring Stefan Davis as West Bromwich Albion and England icon, Cyrille Regis. The film is a dramatic re-telling of Cyrille’s rise to the top flight of the beautiful game and how a shocking incident ahead of his England debut in 1982 spurred him on to event greater success.

    This film is made in loving memory of Cyrille Regis, 1958-2018

    #ProudToBe COURAGEOUS – Henry Box Brown

    In the second of the series, we discover the story of American-born abolitionist lecturer Henry Box Brown. Born into enslavement in North Carolina in around 1815, he became famous after he escaped by mailing himself in a wooden box to abolitionists in Philadelphia. Following this he fled to England in 1850, and embarked on a successful publishing and performing career and became an important campaigner for the abolition of slavery.

    #ProudToBe CARING – Nurse Brown

    In the third film in our Proud To Be series, we meet “Nurse Brown”. Her portrait is part of the collection at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, yet little is known about her – a symbol of the difficulties historians face when seeking to uncover hidden histories of people of colour from the past.

    #ProudToBe Me – in conversation with Tonia Daley-Campbell

    In the final film of the series, we sit down with Tonia Daley-Campbell. An inspiring actress, writer, director and mentor, Tonia shares with us the story of her educational and professional journey. She discusses her proudest career moments and shares advice for young people in the industry today.