With the Prime Minister’s recent confirmation that Step 2 of the Government’s Roadmap will go ahead as scheduled from Monday 12 April, we’re increasingly confident that conditions will be positive for Step 3 to take place from Monday 17 May and, with it, the re-opening of the Museum.
The Museum will re-open with the spring programme ‘Discovering the Black Country’.
The model for this programme will be our August 2020 approach with ‘zoned’ areas across the Museum site and an emphasis on storytelling and outside visitor interaction where possible. At Step 3 visitors will be permitted to enter our historic buildings in line with social distancing regulations – currently planned to be either under the Rule of Six, or as two households.
Some of the key highlights from ‘Discover the Black Country’ will be:
Zone 1 – Marvellous Machines (Turning Circle)
Selected vehicles from the transport collection will be on display to tell stories of how Black Country vehicles – and public transport in particular – turned the wheels of industry and society.
Zone 2 – Black Gold (Racecourse Colliery)
Visitors will hear stories of the dangers of working underground ‘in the Thick’ as miners extracted the black stuff from pits across the Black Country. These stories will be brought to life with the Mining Madness show that has proved to be so popular with visitors of all ages.
Zone 3 – Festival Park (Folkes Park)
It’s 1951 and the Festival of Britain is in full swing. Visitors will be able to enjoy a Festival of Britain exhibition – including the Festival Fayre show, which will showcase some of the popular dishes of the time as the nation began to emerge from the tight restrictions of rationing.
Zone 3 – Village Voices (Canalside Village)
Residents of the Canalside Village will celebrate the launch of the Titanic with its Hingley Anchor and will commiserate when they hear of the ship’s sinking on its maiden voyage.
Zone 4 – Workshops of the World (Canal Arm/Boat Dock)
During weekends a new demonstration will take place: Building the Titanic. This demonstration will show the quite literal links between history’s most famous ocean liner and Black Country industry.
And as if all that wasn’t enough, St James’s School will show visitors what it was like to go to school in the 1940s and visitors will even be able to try their hand at popular wartime games. Drill practice, anyone? A full food and drink offer is also in development and will play a key role in complementing the visitor offer outlined above.
The training programme to introduce colleagues to the new experiences outlined above is currently in development and will be delivered as part of training from w/c 3 May. Further details on scheduling and attendance will be shared with colleagues by Monday 19 April at the latest.
We hope that this update gives you a taste of the new programme and how we’ll be able to welcome visitors back to the Museum to share in our stories.
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