Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Storm clouds gathered over the Irish sea, a small boat tossed on the restless waves; and among the passengers, one man looked back towards Ireland, and the home he had left to escape political unrest.  The storm overtook the boat, and off the coast of England it was wrecked.  Only two men survived.  One of […]

Mystery Object Here’s a tricky one: it’s been taken apart and laid in pieces on the floor.  But what is it and what was  it used for? Most people in West Bromwich know of Providence Place, the new office and hotel development next to the old Cronehills colliery site and close to the new Tescos.  But […]

To say it has been a strange year so far is clearly a massive understatement. By the end of March we had seen fire, flood and pestilence, so it will be interesting to see what history says about this period in future. On a more personal level we’ve all seen our lives disrupted and restricted […]

Whose face is not worth sunburning . . . Over two weeks of almost constant sunshine is not usual for May – what is expected after so much sunshine is the lobster impressions delivered by so many of the great British public who every year forget just how hot and intense the spring sunshine can […]

Hello everyone and welcome to another Museums Musings blog! Last week was National Volunteering Week and Sandwell Museums has been thanking its wonderful volunteers and Friend’s groups from all our sites. Often behind the scenes, it is important that we take a little look into what our friends and volunteers do for us, and of […]

Hello everyone! As this week is all about the objects and artefacts we have here at the museum service we thought a blog about conservation and the threats to the objects in our collection might be an interesting topic for you to read about. So without further ado, here are the threats we face, and […]

Today when you come across the Oak House for the first time it can be quite a shock. It can seem a bit like an alien space ship has landed in amongst the more modern 1900s terrace and 1930s semi-detached urban housing. To see a large, old timber framed building sitting where it does in […]

Sandwell and the Charge of the Light Brigade. We first posted this blog around international nursing day (12th May). It is more pertinent than most years for most of us given what nurses (and the rest of the NHS) are currently battling with. May 12th was chosen as it was Florence Nightingale’s birthday, and if […]

I thought, as we remember and commemorate Victory in Europe Day on May 8th, to look at what was actually happening in the last days of the war in Europe, and what ordinary people, especially those at home, knew about what was going on. During April more and more German troops began to surrender, as […]

From Ancient Folklore to Modern Ecological Symbol Two millennia old or older, the Green Man is the vibrant spirit of the wild wood, of vegetation in leaf or bud, of spring, pool and river, earth and sky, indeed the totality of nature. His voice is the hiss of the high wind in ash and oak. […]