Latest news with #BlackCountryLivingMuseum
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Stourbridge choir releases song to celebrate historic women's strike
A COMMUNITY choir has released a song to celebrate the women chainmakers' strike. Stourbridge-based In Sound Company have highlighted the historical 1910 strike with their song, The Chainmaking Women of the Black Country. The chainmakers' strike was a pivotal event in 1910 where women, producing chains for the ship industry, protested against poor wages and working conditions. Their actions led to improved pay for many women in the area at the time. Richard Newhall, who penned and produced the piece, said: "I came up with the idea following a visit to the Black Country Living Museum several years ago, but it only began to crystalise during lockdown. "The strike is an important piece of social history, both locally and nationally, yet is not widely known about in the area. "I wanted to do something to tell their story, and hope that it resonates with many people. "The audience reaction at the concert was amazing." The song premiered live at Stourbridge Town Hall in March. It is now available on music streaming services. Judith Moreland, co-arranger and musical director, said: "The fact that some choir members have family connections to the chain-making industry make this song extra special for us. "The lyrics, sometimes using Black Country dialect, describe the terrible conditions that the women worked in and their strike for better pay. "It is dramatic, moving and inspiring in equal measure. "Chainmaking Women has become one of the choir's absolute favourites." The song will be featured on Black Country Radio's Omma 'n' Chain Show every Sunday throughout June. It is also available to play or download from various music streaming services, and a storyline video has been released on ISC's YouTube channel at In Sound Company is keen to welcome new members. Rehearsals take place on Monday evenings during term-time, and no auditions are required. More details can be found on their website.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I found tiny version of Black Country Living Museum and it is free to enter
The Black Country Living Museum (BCLM) is a hugely popular attraction, showcasing the region's industrial heritage and providing a great day out. But if you're strapped for cash, or fancy exploring somewhere new, there's a smaller and free alternative just down the road. Located just over four miles away, Mushroom Green Chainshop is thought to be the world's oldest - and last surviving - chain-making shop that's still on its original site. READ MORE: I journeyed into forgotten Midlands Victorian tunnel and spent 41 minutes in eerie darkness Get breaking news on BirminghamLive WhatsApp, click the link to join It is voluntarily run by sculptor Luke Perry, 41, and his wife Natalie, 40, an illustrator and writer, along with two other volunteers. The workshop is located down a winding road in the hamlet of Mushroom Green, situated off Quarry Bank Road in between Quarry Bank, Cradley Heath and Netherton. It's believed to have been built in the mid-1860s and has remarkably survived intact until the present day. While the workshop has had modern additions, other parts, such as the cobbled floor, are original. Inside is like stepping into a time capsule. You'll find six hearths, a bellow, an array of tools including big iron hammers and assortments of different chains. Attached to the workshop is a little cottage, complete with an original stove and sink. In its small kitchen, a rack of postcards and photographs has been positioned for visitors. Resting next to the wall outside is a rock with the number 1747 inscribed on it, which Mr Perry believes could have been an 'edging stone' bearing a date. Inside, the workshop houses a huge, single chain link that was rumoured to have been part of a test chain for the Titanic. Luke and Natalie have voluntarily run the workshop for 18 years, and Dudley Council owns the site. The couple are both chain-makers, with Natalie one of the last female chain-makers in the region. Luke said: "There are a lot of heritage museums, a few of them have got a chain-making shop. "There are also buildings that would have been chain shops that are now people's garages and houses. "But this (Mushroom Green Chainshop) is the only one that is still working. So it is the only chain shop - that anybody knows of - on its original site that is working in the world. "It was something like 90% of the chain and anchors used around the globe came from within about two miles of here." Netherton is famous locally for being the place where the Titanic's anchor was made. It was manufactured by N Hingley & Sons in 1911 and pulled through the streets on a wagon drawn by 20 shire horses. Luke, whose family has made chains in Cradley Heath for 200 years, appeared in a Channel 4 TV series in 2010 called Titanic: The Mission, which recreated that epic journey. Pointing to a large chain resting on the floor of the workshop, Luke said: "That piece, allegedly, was meant to be the Titanic's test chain." Natalie explained how when she and her husband first took over the workshop, it provided a refuge who elderly chain-makers of the area. She said: "When we started doing it, it was kind of a retirement place for chain-makers. "All these kind of 80-year-old fellows would come and hang out, have tea and tell us all about how it used to be." Since then, those local chain-makers have been coming less and less as they've gotten older. But the chainshop has become a source of interest for families looking into their heritage. People have travelled in from all over the world, including the likes of Australia, whilst trying to "find out more about their families here," said Nat. She added: "It's been interesting over almost 20 years to see how this place appeals in different ways to different people and how it has changed." Luke, who is a keen historian on the subject, explained how chain-makers may get a false image of being 'rough and thuggish'. Luke, whose grandad was a chain-maker, said: "All the chain-makers I ever knew were very gentlemenly. "They weren't these thuggish wife-beaters that they seemed to purvey as an idea of what people were. I know that was around. "But the ones I knew were soppy, cry-at-adverts on television type of guys." It wasn't just men who were chain-makers, though. So, too, were women, and the female chain-makers of Cradley Heath famously carried out a strike in 1910 over low pay, led by a campaigner called Mary Macarthur. A monument was sculpted in their honour by Luke in 2011 and now proudly stands in Cradley Heath today. Natalie said: "The women who did it (carried out the strike) were so brave because they were risking starvation for their families. "They were having to trust this woman, Mary McArthur, that they had the strike fund. "It was such a big gamble." Asked if women who took part in the strike could have come from the Mushroom Green Chainshop, Luke said: "Absolutely, there were 800 women in the chain-makers strike and it was supported by the men because everyone wanted better rights." He added: "It would have definitely taken in this area. I can't see how it wouldn't have." Natalie encouraged members of the public to visit Mushroom Green Chainshop for themselves, saying: "You can come out for a nice day out down here. "You can do the Saltwells (Nature Reserve) walk and pop into Mushroom Green and the pub. It's a really nice little journey." Mushroom Green Chainshop opens on the second Sunday of every month between April and October, running from 2pm until 4.30pm.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Celebs Go Dating's Anna Williamson has 'word of advice' for families visiting Black Country Living Museum
Celebs Go Dating's Anna Williamson had a 'word of advice' for families visiting the Black Country Living Museum. The TV presenter and dating expert visited the Dudley attraction earlier this week with her two children. Anna, 43, revealed she'd been to the Tipton Road museum when she was at school and thought it was "as fabulous as ever". READ MORE: Matalan's 'must-have' £35 jacket that 'goes with everything' Taking to her Instagram page, she told her 474,000 followers: "Embracing the great British staycation, off to the Black Country Living Museum, somewhere I've not visited since I was 11!! "Thanks to Gemma from tennis who recommended this… We loved it! 1940/50 immersive experience… "We played on the old fashioned fair, ate fish and chips, bought sweets from the retro shop, watched live demos of bricks and chains being made, had a school lesson 40's style, took the bus… "The whole experience is still as fabulous as ever. The kids loved it." Anna, who hosts the LuAnna podcast with pal Luisa Zissman, continued: "And we thought the alleyways and parts of the village looked familiar. It turns out they filmed Peaky Blinders there. "If you're looking for a day out, I can thoroughly recommend it." However, she concluded the post with a top tip for visitors: "Word of advice, don't let your kids wear white fabric sandals…the coal dust from the mines is unforgiving." Many of Anna's followers replied that they'd also enjoyed a day out at the Black Country Living Museum, which is rated as the 'number one thing to do in Dudley' on TripAdvisor. One said: "Best fish and chips ever!! Love it there." Another wrote: "This has brought back great memories… Loved this place… School trip on the way to the Year 6 residential." A third commented: "Black Country Museum is bostin', cor beat it."
