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Category: Key update

  • Updated Smoking Policy

    Dear Colleague,

    Please find attached a revised and updated Smoking Policy applicable to both Staff and Visitors, together with a map of the designated smoking areas.

    Please read the policy in full. Key points include:

    • Staff & volunteers (Colleagues) cannot smoke anywhere on site other than the staff only designated smoking zones. These are the staff area of the original car park and on the towpath directly behind the Bottle and Glass. Staff should NOT go across the canal bridge to the Dudley Canal Trust (DCT) and use their designated smoking area, as this will lead to conflict with the DCT.
    • Visitors can not smoke in any building, semi-closed buildings or locations.
    • Visitors should be gently directed to only smoke or vape in visitor designated smoking areas, which are behind the Newcomen Engine and the the far side of the lifting bridge by Brown’s Bridge. There will be a clear sign on the fence/wall and a galvanised bucket filled with sand at each location.
    • In the interest of staff safety , please only signpost visitors to the Visitor Smoking Designated areas. Signposting should be done in a mindful and respectful manger. If visitors ignore your suggestion, please do not persist.
    • The only instance when a visitor can be instructed to not smoke is if they are entering a building with a live cigarette or vape.
    • All colleagues should always remain calm, professional and polite in their communication to visitors.
    • For the avoidance of doubt, Staff & Volunteers cannot smoke in the visitor designated smoking areas.

    If you have any questions, please contact your Line Manager.

  • People News Update (22/06/22)

    Welcomes

    This month we’re delighted to welcome Adam Craig as our new Museum Enterprises Manager. With over 20 years in catering and hospitality, Adam brings a wealth of experience to our Enterprise team, including senior management responsibility for a number of food & drink units at the university of Birmingham.

    We also welcomed Nathan Poole as a Site Cleaner, who has plenty of cleaning experience from his previous role in a  chain of dental practices.

    In addition we also welcomed a number of new casual colleagues within our Car Park team.

    A reminder that Carmel Roper joined our Duty Management team last month.

    Next month Claire Packer and Izzy Taylor will be joining us in the roles of Head of Audiences & Communications and Public Programme Producer respectively.

     

    Farewells

    Deborah Watkins, Collections Assistant, left earlier this month to take on a role at Bewdley Museum supporting their front-of-house function.

    Other leavers this month include Jenny Homeshaw (Corporate Development Manager).

     

    Other news

    Nadia Awal has now moved to full-time hours in the Interpretation & Research team.

    Sarah Bradshaw (Assistant Costume Manager) will be made full-time permanently from 1 July 2022.

  • Beat the heat!

    Beat the heat!

    Beat the heat this week!

    As we move into Summer, and with a forecast for high temperatures this week (temperatures are due to hit highs of 28 degrees this Friday), all staff are reminded to:

    • Dress appropriately for the weather and avoid heavy or tight fitting clothing,
    • Utilise shade from buildings, awnings or umbrellas wherever possible and especially between 11am and 3pm,
    • Use at least factor 30 sunscreen with a 4-star UVA rating if you are working outside and reapply during the day,
    • Drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated: water bottles can be refilled from any cold tap in kitchens/staff areas,
    • Open windows and doors (but not fire doors) to help create a breeze.

    In very hot weather Team Managers will bring round water bottles and sunscreen to their team as needed.

    If you have any questions, please get in touch with your Line Manager.

    Stay safe all.

  • GOLD Winners at the National Tourism Awards for Excellence

    Following recent success at the West Midlands Tourism Awards, the Museum was shortlisted in the National awards which took place at the Central Library of Birmingham on the evening of Wed 8 June. With tough competition from  Severn Valley Railway and Chester Zoo, finalists in their own right who were winners in the category from their respective regional awards, it was an honour to be awarded Gold in the category for Resilience and Innovation. 

    The Museum was commended for the many ways that it was able to connect with audiences during the difficult year it faced in 2021. This included being able to provide a space for the NHS to distribute vaccines to the local community, connecting with worldwide audiences through TikTok, and hosting the production of a number of high profile filming projects.

    Andrew Lovett added:

    “The award recognised the Museum’s ability and readiness to evolve and improve how we engage visitors with history, bounce back strongly after the impact of covid and the uncharted territory this took us into. It showed how well we continued to keep in touch with audiences, nurture their loyalty and actually heighten our presence and reputation. We avoided making redundancies, didn’t take-on debt, kept our people and visitors safe, and had faith in the excellence of what we can do. It also demonstrated that the enormous financial support we received from tax-payers was a good investment. 

    It was a national award, very competitive, and everyone, The Board of Trustees, staff and volunteers can be proud of bringing it home to the Museum.”

    Gold, Silver and Bronze winners were selected from hundreds of tourism businesses across England including hotels, self-catering accommodation, B&Bs, glamping operators, attractions, restaurants, pubs and museums. The prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, running for more than 30 years, celebrate and champion innovation, quality and best practice across the industry recognising businesses and individuals who raise the bar of England’s tourism offer.

    As well as the Museum’s individual success in the Resilience and Innovation Category we were honoured to accept, alongside Lady Carnarvon of Highclere Castle, the 2022 Award for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism – on behalf of the English Period Drama.

    You can read VisitEngland’s full press release, along with all other categories and winners, here.

  • Staff Consultative Forum Nomination 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. 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 post:

    • Administrative, Specialist & Managerial     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 SCF 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 22 June . 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.

  • Did you enjoy our Bostin’ Jubilee Bash? – All Staff Survey

    We’re keen to hear from all our staff about their thoughts on our recent Bostin’ Jubilee Bash programme. Do you have any thoughts, opinions or things you think we could improve upon for next time?

    Please fill in the survey via the link below. We are hoping to hear from a wide range of staff, including those who worked, contributed to, or visited the event.

    Bostin Jubilee Bash Survey

     

  • Action for Happiness: Joyful June

    Action for Happiness: Joyful June

    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.

  • Craig Edmondson honored by WM Finance Awards

    Last week our Finance Director Craig Edmondson was honored at the 2022 WM Robert Walters Awards as Finance Director of the Year (Not-For-Profit).

    The category looked to honour “a finance director with a demonstrable legacy of delivery in financial performance, leadership and management.”

    The West Midlands Finance Awards are an annual event proudly organised by the ICAEW West Midlands, Robert Walters and RSM.

    The West Midlands Finance Awards recognises the outstanding achievements of businesses and individuals within the region’s finance community. The Awards have been running since 2016 and sell out with over 500 finance professionals attending every year.

    Huge congratulations to Craig!

  • Jubilee Programme and National News Appearance

    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.

    Vimal Korpal, Piara Singh, Sebastian Edwards, Piara’s son Jim

    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.

     

     

     

  • BCLM appoints new Trustees to the Board

    BCLM appoints new Trustees to the Board

    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.