DUDLEY’S Black Country Living Museum has given a sneak preview of its brand new 1950s Industrial Quarter ahead of its official launch this week.
Three new buildings will be unveiled to visitors and new costumed characters will make their debut at a Red by Night evening event on Friday March 15.
The Joe H Smith & Sons (Oldbury) Ltd manufacturing premises and Brockmoor’s Cricket Field Brickworks have been faithfully recreated, while the original J. H. Lavender Aluminium Foundry from Wednesbury has been completely rebuilt at the Tipton Road museum.
The additions are part of the museum’s new multi-million pound development offering visitors chance to step back in time to the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
Museum staff liaised with the families of people who worked at the factories to recall their history and recreate them as they once were.
Brick maker Sarah Pratt is among the new costumed characters being introduced as part of the new development.
Amy Young from Halesowen plays Sarah, from Brockmoor, who worked at Cricket Field Brickworks after her husband returned home from WWI injured.
Grandson Richard Shaw and great-grandson Alex, both of Wordsley, shared memories and background with the museum to help depict hard-working Sarah, who passed away in 1963.
Richard, aged 70, said it was “quite emotional” to see his grandmother whom he lost when he was 10 depicted in the new attraction and Alex, aged 37, said: “It’s been really interesting. It’s nice to picture what she would have been like.”
Trevor and Matt Smith, who ran family hand toolmaking firm Joe H. Smith & Sons (Oldbury) Ltd, known as Joe’s Tools, were taken aback by the recreation of the factory that both had spent so much time in.
Trevor, aged 82, said the museum had done a “magic job” of bringing the building, which was located in Roway Lane, back to life.
He said it was “mindboggling” to be able to step back inside and his son Matt, aged 49, added: “It’s unbelievable. It makes you very proud as a family to have it here forever.”
The company, founded in 1895 by Joseph H Smith, specialised in crafting high-quality hand tools, particularly sledgehammers.
Meanwhile, brothers Ismail Miah and Ahmed Hussain were delighted to see the J.H. Lavender Aluminium Foundry where their father Abdul Hakim worked for nearly 35 years.
Mr Hakim moved to the Black Country from Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) and worked at the foundry from 1957 to 1991 when he retired.
Ismail said his father, who died in 2016, would have been “really happy” to see the recreation.
The brothers said the company, which continues to this day, had been good to their dad –continuing to gift him a Christmas hamper even after he retired.
J.H. Lavender Aluminium Foundry, the oldest family-owned aluminium foundry in Britain, was established in 1917 by John Herbert Lavender and played a pivotal role in producing engine components for British motorcycle manufacturers and companies like British Seagull outboard motors, Rover and Reliant cars, and Black & Decker power tools.
Workers from across the Commonwealth were taken on at the company and to celebrate this inclusivity the museum has introduced a new fictional costumed character named Fitzroy Barrett.
Carol King, director of programmes at BCLM, said the new additions to the museum “offer a glimpse into a bygone era filled with innovation, hard work, and community spirit”.
The Red by Night events launching the new additions to the museum will take place on Friday March 15 and Saturday March 16.
Visitors will be able to see brickmaking demonstrations and hear about the powerful women brickmakers at Cricket Field Brickworks, watch gravity die-casting at the J.H. Lavender’s Aluminium Foundry building, and hear the story of the legend ‘Sledge’ whose name appears on handmade hammers at the recreated Joe H. Smith & Sons Ltd building.
Tickets are available on the museum website bclm.com.
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