The video was shot in the Jeweller's Workshop. This was during the 12:00 guided tour which was excellent from start to finish.
My first impressions of visiting the Museum were rather tainted by the lady at the admission / information desk who had obviously got out of bed the wrong side. I think this person hasn't yet quite got Birmingham City Council out of her bloodstream, as she was very brusque dealing with questions about how the museum worked. Perhaps she should take a moment to reflect that just because she knows about the place, it does not follow that everyone else does.
Bizarrely, both my wife and I were informed that if we booked a place on a guided tour, we had to wait until the next scheduled one in the assigned space upstairs. This applied even when the next scheduled tour was some time off. If we did not do this, or if (gasp!) we left the building for a few moments (presumably to look around the Jewellery Quarter generally, or - god help us - get a cuppa somewhere else) she would vacate our tour booking. If this is a policy approved by the Birmingham Museums Trust, it is a moronic one.
This brand of stupidity is borderline defensible for a council-run free admission establishment, but a private trust trawling for supporters treats paying customers this way at their peril: Take heed.
Dictatorial silliness notwithstanding, I was happy to have stayed around long enough to get just a small flavour of this vital part of Birmingham's heritage.
The chap featured in this video was superb, and the practical demonstrations given brought the Smith & Pepper company back to life (if only for a few moments, and albeit in a health and safety friendly way).
Teething problems aside, this museum is a worthwhile place for anyone interested in British industrial history to visit. Make sure you book a tour upon admission though, as you will be unable to visit the workshop unless you are part of a group. When you go in the workshop you will understand why.
Click here to visit the website of the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter.
More about this visit and my exploration of other BMT sites to follow anon.
Great post and the video is superb and very interesting Graham. I've never been to this particular museum but looks well worth a visit!
ReplyDeleteI only found out about the Birmingham Museums Trust a year or so back when I went to Blakesley Hall expecting it to be free as it used to be!! To be far the staff there were excellent.
A very stupid policy though of having to remain on premises for next tour in the case of the museum you visited.
I could never understand why the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery didn't introduced timed tickets when they originally hosted the Staffordshire Hoard exhibition and the queues were 3 to 4 hours long!!! Again you would have had to wait in the queue for the whole time - we gave up and I went back a long time later when a permanent exhbition opened and there was no queue!!
Look forward to reading more of your visits to BMT places.
Thanks Caroline :)
DeleteYep, Blakesley Hall is a lovely place to visit, and is well worth the money. To be honest I've got a season ticket for all BMT sites so if any of my pictures don't come out I can go and re-take them. In the case of Blakesley Hall sometimes my wife and I even turn up just to have a cuppa in some pretty surroundings.
Agreed that the guides are lovely and cheerful at Blakesley Hall, and they fall over themselves to help. A word to the wise though, never let on that you may know what the latin inscription on the front door says: You'll steal their thunder!