Living Museum to double all donations for brand new street
THE Black Country Living Museum’s exciting new project, the creation of a brand new street recreating the period from the 1940s to the 1960s, has been given a boost.
The museum has joined forces with the country’s biggest match funding campaign the ‘Big Give’, which will see all donations to its Forging Ahead project doubled between 12pm on Tuesday November 27 to 12pm on Tuesday December 4.
The project, which will see buildings from all over the Black Country carefully dismantled and faithfully rebuilt at the Tipton Road site, is set to cost an eye-watering £23.2 million. But the museum has received support from numerous sources to date, including a pledge from the Heritage Lottery Fund of £9.8m – to meet the total. Now the museum is calling out for donations towards a final fundraising target of £150,000 from the public, with the aim of raising at least £30,000 before December 4.
Due to be complete in 2022, the ambitious project will see the creation of a brand new town centre set in the decades after the Second World War, a modern visitor entrance and a dedicated learning centre.
When complete, visitors will be able to step back in time to one of the first self-service Co-ops; have a drink in the once much-loved Wolverhampton local the Elephant and Castle; or listen to vinyl records at Stanton’s Music shop, which once served Dudley town centre.
Andrew Lovett, Chief Executive and Director, said: “This is an incredibly ambitious, once-in-alifetime project. Our research so far has helped us uncover incredible stories that will help us piece together the revolutionary time that was the ’40s-’60s.
Generous
“We cannot express how grateful we are to the generosity of those who have come forward in support of this project. Being part of this national campaign will allow us to double every single donation from the public, getting us ever closer to our final fundraising goal to bring this incredible period of history to life, and make sure future generations can always reflect upon the past in an immersive and thought-provoking way.”
To mark this stage of the project, the museum has released detailed photographs and videos of the town centre to give the public a better idea of what the 40s-60s high street would look like.
The huge Victorian building that is Woodside Library has been digitally recreated as it would have stood in the early 1960s, and is reproduced here.
If you’d like to donate, visit the Black Country Living Museum’s webpage: bclm.com/biggive