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Category: Museum sector

  • Our underground mine experience

    Our underground mine experience

    Some of you may have seen a photograph on our social media platforms last night – a photo of a mine safety lamp standing proudly on a heap of coal. This is the start of a social media series of images and videos that will tease the reopening of ‘Into the Thick’, our underground mine experience.

    Although we are not confirming a date to the general public yet, we are aiming to have the underground mine experience open within the next month.

    Please do share our social media posts to help build excitement, but please don’t share the date of the reopening on social media yet.

    More information will be shared over the coming weeks for those who have never experienced ‘Into the Thick’.

  • 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.

  • Nominate BCLM to receive £1,000 as part of the Movement for Good Awards 2022!

    We are looking for nominations to be awarded a grant from the Benefact Group’s ‘Movement for Good Awards 2022’.

    Financial services group Benefact Group has charitable giving at its heart and this year has over £1m to give away to charities. For BCLM to be in with a chance of receiving £1,000, we need your nominations! You can do this by nominating us through the link here by 7th June – it’ll just take a minute, and it doesn’t matter that you’re an employee. The more votes we receive, the better our chances!

    Thank you.

    The Development Team

  • 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.

  • Andrew discusses Peaky Blinders with BBCR4 Today programme

    Following the season finale of the last ever series of Peaky Blinders airing on Sunday night on BBC One, Andrew Lovett appeared on BBC Radio 4’s the Today programme to discuss the impact of the show on the Museum as well as the wider West Midlands.

    To listen to the interview in full, use the media player below:

  • Winners at the West Midlands Tourism Awards!

    On Thursday 31 March, Black Country Living Museum were thrilled to be crowned with the Resilience and Innovation Award at the 2022 West Midlands Tourism Awards.

    This was a newly created category for this year, which sought to recognise how organisations in the tourism sector adapted when faced with the difficult circumstances that Covid-19 presented.

    The Museum was recognised 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, CEO, said: “I would like to extend my thanks to everyone here at the Museum for their combined efforts over what has been a trying year for us all. The award for which we were nominated was highly competitive with a number of excellent organisations in the running, so it brings me great joy to see us recognised as winners in this category. This award reaffirms our collective resilience and creativity during 2021 in the face of difficult circumstances.”

    Paul Crofts, COO, added: “A huge, huge well done to everyone across the teams in your effort, professionalism, innovation and work in once again seeing the museum recognised.”

    Following  success in the regional awards, the Museum will be put forward for the same category in the national awards.

  • Forging Ahead: Additional funding boost from WMCA

    Forging Ahead: Additional funding boost from WMCA

    Black Country Living Museum receives additional funding boost from the West Midlands Combined Authority toward their brand-new capital development, BCLM: Forging Ahead

    Following the successful application for an additional funding boost, the development is well underway. The Museum is looking to open the first of the historic buildings this summer, a replica of the Elephant and Castle pub from Wolverhampton, as well as its brand-new Visitor Centre.

    The project has been made successful by the contributions toward its £30m budget from a variety of major funders, with significant investment from the Department of Culture Media and Sport’s Capital Kickstart Fund via the Culture Recovery Fund, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership, Arts Council England, and the West Midlands Combined Authority, as well as from several other supporters and generous donors.

    This recent additional funding boost allows for the Museum to complete additional ground clearance works alongside the continuing development works. The investment comes via the WCMA’s funding plan which is committing devolved housing and land investment, to fund the clean-up.

    Andrew Lovett, chief executive officer at Black Country Living Museum, said: “Forging Ahead is now more important than ever to the future of the Museum and our region. It provides added momentum to thrive once again for our community following the unprecedented challenge of the pandemic.

    “The modern Black Country, with its rich global connections and diversity of people is the enduring legacy of the 1940s-60s. It is a legacy to be proud of. Forging Ahead provides a new stage upon which we can share new stories and celebrate the contribution of everyone who came to call the Black Country home during this period of history.

    “I believe this vision is the will of the people we serve. We’re hugely grateful for the WMCA’s support and investment at a critical stage in our project.”

    Cllr Mike Bird, WMCA portfolio holder for housing and land and leader of Walsall Council, said: “Supporting the museum in this way would yet again show how the WMCA is using the money it has secured from government to open up brownfield sites to recharge our industrial history, build new homes, grow our business and tourism sector and protect our green belt from unnecessary development.”

     

     

  • National Lottery Open Days at BCLM

    This March, the National Lottery are inviting organisations to take part in National Lottery Open Week.

    National Lottery Heritage Fund have made a significant investment in our brand new 1940s-60s development BCLM Forging Ahead. As our way of saying a big “Thank You” to our visitors and supporters, we are giving National Lottery players the opportunity to visit the Museum for free with two free entry days* on Sun 20 and Fri 25 March.

    As well as our open dates, the People & Culture team are organising a recruitment fair on the afternoon of each of our free days, to help us spread awareness of future employment opportunities at the Museum as part of the new development. Colleges and local community groups have been invited to attend the fair (recruitment fair invitees have been sent special tickets) but anyone who is booked to visit on the day is welcome to drop in.

    To find out more about other organisations who are taking part, visit the Lottery Good Causes website.

    Tickets for the National Lottery Open Days must be pre-booked in advance via our website. Visitors simply need to show their valid National Lottery play (either an in-app play, scratch card or Lottery play) along with their timed entry booking slot on arrival. 

     

  • BCLM Welcomes VIP Visitors – a thank you from Andrew

    Yesterday we hosted a visit from the High Commissioners of Grenada and Malawi and the Economic Attaché of South Africa.  They had chosen to visit the Museum because of our contribution to the success of the creative industries of the United Kingdom.  We offered an unusual example of how film and TV production, animation and social media channels have an outlet in a regional heritage setting, and are capable of worldwide reach.

    The visit was a great success, and I want to thank you for your contribution.  It was also hugely appreciated by our special guests.

    With my thanks,

    Andrew

    Our visitors went away with “Peaky” caps which they proudly wore later that day!