Category: Key update

  • Oversized Rubbish Clearance Update

    Oversized Rubbish Clearance Update

    Please note there will be a skip placed in the top compound opposite the guides building next Monday (29th July) to enable the Cleaning Team to remove the rubbish that has accumulated in the area by the bins over the last few months. I would ask staff to please not place any items directly in the skip while it’s here to give the Cleaning Team a chance to clear this area once and for all.

    With regards to oversized rubbish in the future once the compound has been cleared can I please ask all staff to raise a ticket on the help desk, the Cleaning Team will then make arrangements with you for its disposal. This area of the site is visible to our customers when the brown sliding gate is opened and closed during the day and currently looks very unkempt.

    Can all managers make their teams aware of this revised process.

    David Pitt

  • Knobs and Knockers -Specialist Tour

    We are looking forward to meeting the Nottingham Macular Society when they visit BCLM on Tuesday 23 July.

    The Community Engagement team, and collections, have developed a new touch tour for blind and partially sighted visitors.

    Knobs and Knockers is one of the latest themes, and we will be expanding the offer as more visitors request specialist tours.

    This handling session forms part of our future plans to transform the visitor journey and increase attendance.

  • Annual Review and Report & Accounts Year Ending 2018

    Annual Review and Report & Accounts Year Ending 2018

    Please note that the Annual Review and Report & Accounts for year ending 2018 are now available to view online.

  • BCLM:Forging Ahead – J.H.Lavender & Co.

    As part of our ambitious BCLM: Forging Ahead development plans, we will be creating a new industrial area, telling the story of the Black Country from the 1940s to the 1960s. The industrial space will feature several well-known Black Country industries, including a translocation of part of the JH Lavender & Co. aluminium foundry from Hall Green, West Bromwich.

    About Lavender’s

    When John Herbert “Jack” Lavender founded his business in 1917, aluminium was an unusual material in Black Country foundries, which had traditionally worked with iron and steel. However, centuries of experience in metalworking and major engineering industry made the Black Country the ideal place for a foundry like Lavender’s. We will be translocating a small post-war building and original foundry equipment from Lavender’s site to the Museum, enabling us to demonstrate the sights, sounds and smells of a real 1960s foundry.

    We will also be telling the social history of industrial work in the Black Country. Faced with a desperate labour shortage after the war, Black Country businesses recruited workers from all around the world to enable their foundries, forges and factories to operate to full capacity. Like many foundries in the region, Lavender’s employed foundrymen from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan and elsewhere, providing work and a home for a generation of Commonwealth citizens. Ninder Johal DL, Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership Board Member & CEO, tells us – “As a second generation British Asian child I recall my father telling me stories of his time working in the foundries in Smethwick. He spent his working life in smoky and hot furnaces and for my children and grandchildren visiting the Museum and seeing such industries depicted will provide a legacy enabling them to understand who they are and the role their grandfather and great grandfather played in the industrial landscape of the UK.”

    Lavender’s is believed to be the oldest family-owned aluminium foundry in Britain. It was founded as Woden Aero Foundry on Stafford Street, Wednesbury in 1917 to supply components for the booming motorcycle and car industry in the Black Country and beyond – famous names including Sunbeam, AJS, Norton-Villiers, BSA and Triumph came to Lavender’s for their parts. It was estimated at one point that almost every single motorcycle produced in Britain featured a Lavender casting somewhere in its construction. Lavender himself died in 1957 but his legacy lives on – the foundry continues to produce aluminium castings for the motor industry to the present day.

    Did you or anyone in your family work at Lavender’s in the 1940s-1960s? Do you remember the Lavender family in this period? Did you move to Britain to work in a Black Country industry in this period? Please get in touch with us by emailing [email protected] or call 0121 557 9643, select option 3 (collections).

  • BCLM: Forging Ahead – Public Announcement

    BCLM: Forging Ahead – Public Announcement

    I’m pleased to say that tomorrow (Wednesday 29 May) we will be making a public announcement that we have been given the final go ahead to begin our transformational £23m development project BCLM: Forging Ahead thanks to confirmation of £9.4m funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund.

    We are hoping that the media will be as excited as we are so keep a lookout over the next few days in your local press, on local radio and hopefully on TV as we share this big news!

    Thank you for your patience and confidentiality over the last few weeks – just one more day to go!

    Carolyn Sankey, Deputy Chief Executive (Development)

  • New Leadership & Management and Staffing

    Following extensive consultations the move to the new structure is nearing completion and will take effect from Monday 3 June. Following briefings with the new teams last week I am pleased to confirm colleagues in the following new roles:

    Nicola Rowe, Head of Museum Operations
    Management of all visitor-facing operations, events management, visitor and formal educational engagement, commercial activities, ICT, costume production, on-site transport, visitor admissions, security, car parking and duty management. Reports to Managing Director.

    Mel Weatherley, Head of Programme Development
    Originating programmes which effectively engage audiences in the history of the Black Country and its connections to and impacts on, contemporary life. Develop themes, topics subjects for Museum activity and the stories we tell, collaborating with colleagues across the Museum and developing external partnerships. Reports to Director of Programmes.

    Hayley Merchant (nee McCafferty-David), Head of Collections Care & Management
    Care, management and development of the Museum’s collections including collections strategy, developing external partnerships, maintaining Designation and Accreditation standards, management of Collections Care & Management team. Reports to Director of Programmes.

    Jon White, Engagement Operations Manager
    Manages the Museum’s visitor and formal educational engagement operations, duty management, security, on-site transport, costume production and car parking, to optimise customer service and visitor experience. Reports to Head of Museum Operations.

    Giles Hammond, Museum Enterprises Manager
    Leads on the Museum’s food&drink and retail activities, to optimise financial results, customer service and visitor experience. Reports to Head of Museum Operations.

    Tim Shields, Transport Manager
    Manages the Museum’s road and rail transport and other motorised equipment, including historic and modern vehicles. Reports to Head of Site Conservation, Transport & Maintenance

    Liam Parkes, Engineering Manager
    Project managing, advising on and overseeing the maintenance of the Museum’s historic mechanical, industrial and operational collections, including boats. Reports to Head of Site Conservation, Transport & Maintenance.

    Clare Weston, Researcher
    Research into the history of the Black Country and the Museum’s collections to inform programme development. Reports to Director of Programmes.

    Helen Taylor, Collections Manager
    Care, management and development of the Museum’s collections including for example access to collections, acquisitions, conservation, appropriate use and display. Reports to Head of Collections Care & Management.

    Ricki Boden, People Administrator
    Assists the People Administration & Support Manager to deliver effective Human Resources systems and administration such as recruitment, induction and training, payroll, pension and volunteers.

    The new leadership, management and staffing structure can be viewed in full here.

    A number of vacancies still remain which are/will be being recruited to in the coming weeks and months, internally first and externally if required. Do keep an eye on the intranet for these opportunities.

    If you have any questions do get in touch with Helen Astill, [email protected] or on 219.

    With thanks for your cooperation and patience during this process.

    Andrew

  • Update on National Lottery Heritage Fund announcement

    Although the embargo on the news of our successful funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund is technically lifted tomorrow (3 May), owing to European elections and our plan to announce publicly in conjunction with NLHF, our announcement will not now take place until 29 May.

    Your continued cooperation in keeping the news out of the public domain is appreciated. Should you receive any media enquiries at this time, please direct to Abby Bird in Comms team.

  • P60’s 2018/2019

    The P60 data for the tax year 6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019 is now available. Log in as you would for your payslip and you will see a P60 icon where the document can be accessed.

  • Farewell Laura

    Farewell Laura

    Laura Wakelin, since October 2013, has had a tremendous impact on the Museum, and it is with sadness that I need to let you know that Laura is leaving the Museum.  Laura has been a highly trusted and gifted member of the Leadership Team, advisor to me and the Board of Trustees, and critical to our success for more than five years.  Laura can be immensely proud of the positive difference she has made on many levels, most recently with BCLM: Forging Ahead. 

    Laura’s last day at the Museum will be Tuesday 30 April 2019.

    I wish Laura every possible success and best wishes for the future.

    Andrew

  • John Hughes Staff Award 2019

    The John Hughes Staff Award is available to support the professional and personal development of individuals through funding for qualifications, conferences, workshops, short courses and research trips. 

    The award is available to permanent staff members who have worked at BCLM for a minimum of 6 months and who are able to demonstrate how the award will support their personal development and also benefit the Museum.

    The maximum award available each year from 2016-2021 is £1,000 (the minimum amount requested should be no less than £200), which will be awarded to one or multiple staff members following submission of the attached form. Any supporting or additional information about the professional/personal development opportunity should be attached to the application.

    Staff are required to discuss their requirements with their Line Manager prior to completing the attached application. This is to ensure the application is suitable to be funded in this way and is not a requirement which may be able to be met by the Museum in other ways. This should then be authorised by the Line Manager and submitted to HR. A decision will then be made by HR and the relevant Deputy Chief Executive (s), subject to the remaining funds available and according to the needs of the Museum at that time.

    If you are interested in applying for funding through the John Hughes Award please complete the attached form and return to HR no later than 5pm on Monday 15 April 2019.