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Category: TV Feed Main News

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Staff Social-RSVP

    Calling all staff and volunteers, we are delighted to announce that our Staff Social we be held on Monday 8th November from 6:00pm onwards in hall 2.

    Please join us for a fun evening of entertainment, food and drink.

    If you are interesting in attending please complete the Staff Social RSVP We will be ordering food and drink based on RSVPs so please complete the form and let us know if you have any dietary requirements. RSVP deadline 22nd October 2021

    More details to follow.

  • Parking Update – Wed 13 Oct

    For all staff that use the car park, please can all staff park at the far end of the main car park (at the bottom end on the gravel) on Wednesday 13 October rather than the usual staff area. This is to allow for Balfour Beatty to carry out scanning work.

  • Pre Paid Flu Jab Vouchers

    BCLM is committed to providing a healthy working environment and improving the quality of working lives for all staff and volunteers. As part of our continued efforts under the umbrella of ‘Health and Wellbeing’ of all our staff and volunteers, we are pleased to confirm that prepaid flu jab vouchers are available for anyone wishing to have one. The vouchers are redeemable at Boots outlets.

    If you would like a voucher please contact any of the People & Culture team via [email protected] or pop into our office at Canalside. All we need from you is your name and your preferred contact method (either email or text message) in order for the voucher to be sent to you.

  • Update on Museum Covid-Safe Measures

    Face Coverings

    The Government’s advice is that it expects and recommends that members of the public continue to wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed spaces where you come into contact with people you don’t normally meet.

    Therefore, the Museum will continue to recommend to visitors that they wear facing coverings in our indoor settings.  And so, in line with that, the Museum requires all staff that are in an indoor setting, where the public are present, and where they are unable to maintain a distance of 2 metres away from members of the public, to wear a face covering. The face covering can either be one in the form of a mask, of an appropriate style and colour or a clear face visor. 

    Social Distance

    • Staff should continue to maintain a 2 metre distance from visitors where possible

    The limits in meeting rooms will be removed with immediate effect. Users should  ensure that rooms are ventilated during meetings and face coverings are encouraged.

    • Staff bubbles  & staggered shifts will cease with immediate effect, but mixing within teams in social spaces remains discouraged
    • Morning briefings will remain separate for the moment
    • The guide hut can return to being a changing area
    • Screens will remain in place
    • Limiting  visitor numbers in small buildings will  remain and signage will be updated accordingly

    One Way & QR

    • Where access is limited or entry is narrow, we will maintain the one-way flow and the signage in these locations.
    • QR codes will remain for the moment

    Sanitisers

    Sanitisers  remain on site and all buildings and we propose no change to this at the moment.