Black Country Living Museum

We are thrilled to be hosting The Business of Cricket event with Worcestershire Country Cricket Club CEO, Ashley Giles, on Wednesday 15 January at our historic Workers Institute. To register your interest in attending this event, please contact Joe Tromans directly.

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve been selected to participate in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Digital Accelerator Program, which helps organisations like ours invest in essential digital infrastructure. Through the programme, we will develop a comprehensive ticketing, membership, and customer management system, establishing a digital-first approach and a seamless online experience for our visitors and members. Thank you, Bloomberg Philanthropies!

We are thrilled to announce a new Coal Business Partnership with Bunzl plc! Bunzl are a focused and successful specialist international distribution and services group with operations across the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific and the UK & Ireland. They support businesses all over the world with a variety of products that are essential for our customers in the successful operation of their businesses. We look forward to continuing our history of innovation and collaborating with Bunzl over the next year

The use of thalidomide in the late 1950s is estimated to have affected over 10,000 babies worldwide. To share this important history here at the Museum, as part of our development of Lea Road Infant Welfare Centre, we ensured that we consulted community groups, individuals and professionals. This is to ensure that the stories we tell reflect 'real lives, real stories’ and accurately represent this key part of medical history. To mark UK Disability History Month, in our latest blog BCLM Researcher Nadia Awal explores how we have started to represent the history of thalidomide and how we will continue to build on the story here at the Museum. With sincere thanks to Darren (pictured here with his father, Stanley) for sharing his personal story; as well as The Thalidomide Society, the Science Museum Group and the University of Wolverhampton for their contributions. Read on to find out more: https://lnkd.in/dq6yE4DP

Today, a few of us from the Museum attended FOCUS in London. It was great to attend and catch up with other amazing film locations across the UK. This was our first time here, and we look forward to exploring the possibility of exhibiting next year.

Would you be interested in bringing your skills and expertise to our exciting organisation as a trustee? We're currently seeking to appoint up to five new trustees over the next 12 months, and we are particularly keen to hear from people with strong business experience and those at the early stages of their careers, and from people who can add to the diversity, lived experience and perspectives of the Board. To find out more about this volunteer opportunity, visit our website: https://lnkd.in/dQDSRQgv

Our new Trolleybus Shelter has been coming in handy lately for our visitors to shelter from the rain and keep warm during this chilly season!   A massive thank you to our Iron Business Partners, Cast Iron Welding Services, for their work on restoring the existing components of the metalwork before installing the shelter on site.   Cast Iron Welding Services said: ‘We received the components into our workshop and had them blast cleaned to remove existing coatings and enable full inspection to take place. We repaired a broken base plate and defect areas using gas fusion welding, ensuring the filler material used was the same as the parent material (grey cast iron also known as flake iron). We also replaced the end panel/window and the rainwater inlet pipe. Finally, we installed the shelter back on site.

You may remember that we posted some pictures of our ‘Winston Churchill Locomotive’ back in September, in the midst of its restoration process. Thanks to our dedicated Transport Team, and Corporate Volunteers from NatWest, Cadent Gas Limited, and Wesleyan, this valued part of our collection is now looking shiny and clean again for our visitors over the Christmas period. To register your interest in Corporate Volunteering for 2025, please email development@bclm.com

Our 29-acre site (equivalent to around 15 football pitches!) is the perfect location for your next project, whether that’s to film the next award-winning drama series, blockbuster movie, short film, radio production, or music video 🎬 Find out more about filming on our ready-made sets: https://lnkd.in/ecyTmitA

📢 Latest opportunity: Head of Development 📢 Are you passionate about fundraising, helping organisations thrive and celebrating the impact of museums? We're currently seeking a new Head of Development to lead on the creation, development and delivery of our fundraising strategy. If this sounds like you we'd love to hear from you - visit our website to find out more: https://lnkd.in/eDtsQC_G