Heritage venues ready to welcome visitors for celebration of creativity
Historical attractions and landmarks across the region will be throwing open their doors to mark the Heritage Open Days festival this month.
Hundreds of years of history will be proudly on display across dozens of sites in the Black Country, Staffordshire and the Wyre Forest district.
The packed programme of more than 5000 events features everything from historic houses to factories, museums to music halls, formal gardens to graveyards, places, spaces and communities across the country who are once again hosting free events between September 8 and 17.
Hundreds of activities will adopt this year’s theme, Creativity Unwrapped, sharing England’s colourful history of creativity and will celebrate the experts and enthusiastic amateurs whose passions and skills add something special to daily lives.
Among the venues opening their doors to the public are Top Church in Dudley and Central Hall Methodist Church in Walsall, with both providing an intimate look at the buildings and the years of history behind them.
Top Church will be running tours around the 19th century church on Saturday, September 9 to show the conservation work which has been completed as part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund programme.
The tours, which will run between 11am and 2pm, will show the history of the East Window and allow those in attendance the chance to chat to the conservator Jim Budd and architect Matt Vaughan about the preservation work taking place on the church.
The tours at Top Church are free, but need to be booked in advance as there will only be a maximum of seven people per tour.
Top Church community and heritage director Kath Poole said it was a great opportunity to celebrate the history of the church and the role it plays in Dudley.
She said: "It's a great opportunity for the wider community in Dudley to really celebrate the history that we have in the town and bring people in from elsewhere to come and see what there is and what stories we have in our community.
"We have had funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to preserve parts of the building which were most at risk and to remove the building from Heritage England's at risk register and, as part of that, we also have the opportunity to fund events that will allow us to be open more to the community, such as Heritage Open Days.
"I think the concept is a really exciting way just to highlight specific things and it really brings everything together by giving it a specific theme, which is creativity unwrapped this year, and that fits in perfectly with our current renovation project."
In Walsall, Central Hall is welcoming people in for morning worship on Sunday, September 10 at 10.30am then, following the service, to take a walk around the premises between 12pm and 4pm.
Visitors will be able to listen to the restored organ and look at craft work inside the church, as well as see displays of heritage artifacts, stained glass and leaded windows and memorabilia from the former Mellish Road Church.
Church council secretary Su Smith said there were a lot of things people could see inside the 19th century church and learn about something on their doorstep.
She said: "We've got a very old building which started in 1846 and there have been lots of additions since, plus I think it's one of those buildings that a lot of people in Walsall might not always realise it was there because it doesn't look like a traditional church from the outside.
"The open day means an open welcome and people don't have to be churchgoers, plus Methodism is very much about open acting out of god's reaction, so we just want to share that by saying come, feel welcome, have a chat and a cup of tea and find out a bit more about us.
"I think the Heritage Open Days concept is a brilliant idea as you often don't know what's on your doorstep or appreciate it, so it's all about the past and how it builds into the community now."
Liam Montgomery, Heritage Open Days marketing and projects manager said: “Whether it’s art, music, writing, or another outlet, creativity moves us and shapes our history and culture.
"This year, organisers have once again come up trumps and created a stellar programme of events which put the spotlight on the people and places who give England’s heritage the X-factor and inspire festival-goers to engage with thousands of years of creativity.
"And it is the organisers who make this possible, and whose hard work enables over a million people to engage with heritage, for free, on their doorstep, every September.”
To find out more, go to heritageopendays.org.uk.
