THIS IS THE UN EDITED VERSION
Phil
I was very disappointed to listen to your programme on Monday, when you discussed the HP sign and its future. At the time of your campaign to save the sign, 12 months ago, I mentioned our campaign (
www.madeinbirmingham.org) to get support for a Birmingham industrial museum for Birmingham, which you said you would support, yet there was no mention of that on the programme.
The HP sign and what to do with it highlights the very crux of the matter, Birmingham is one of the only former industrial cities that does not have a dedicated industrial museum, if it had there would be no discussion of where this sign should be located. Putting the sign in Aston Hall would be inappropritae and not in keeping with the Hall, in fact in my opinion it would detract from the atmosphere of the hall and make it tacky! The A38M siting would be more appropriate but still only gives people a glance at what is an iconic symbol of Birmingham, a symbol which needs to be displayed with an appropriate history and other HP artifacts.
It should also be considered that HP were a very small company, at the time of closure employing less than 200 people, and although they were a very well known brand they were overshadowed by other Aston companies such as Hercules Cycles (The worlds largest cycle manufacturer in the 30s) Ansells and Tubes. Where are the signs for these companies, where are there any artifacts on show for these companies? Austin were Birmingham's largest employer, where are the signs for this factory, where are their exhibits?
In 1997 Birmingham closed its museum of science and industry and replaced it with a science museum, Think Tank. (pause for laughter). Hardly a fitting gesture for a city that owes its existence to industry, probably more so than any other UK City. Yes there are a few cabinets of industrial interest in Think Tank but this hardly replaces the very much missed museum in Newhall Street. A science museum repacing an industrial and science museum was a very backward move without parallel in museum history in this country.
Yes, OK there will be a couple of galleries in BMAG telling the story of Birmingham, and extension at the Jewellery Museum but this is not what Birmingham needs and neither are a day out destination. The Black Country showed the way with their open air museum and there is no reason why that could not be bettered in Birmingham. For instance, name one well known maufacturer from the Black Country that was known all over the UK, at the moment as I write I can only think of one and that is Goodyear! Birmingham on the other hand has or had many many companies that were known, not only in the UK, but throughout the world, BSA, Cadbury, Austin, Rover,Tube Investments, Norton Motorcycles, Ariel Motorcycles, Velocette Motorcycles, SU Carburetters, Lucas Electrical, Bakelite, Ansells, Hercules Cycles, Dawes Cycles, CWS Maufacturing, Girling Brakes, King Dick Spanners, Atco, Merry Tiller, Webb Mowers and motorcycle forks, Fisher and Ludlow, Berry Magicoal Fires, Valor Fires etc etc.,
The Museum store at Dolman Street which is storing the HP sign at the moment stores around 200,000 pieces, which I find incredulous, over the next five years it plans to increase this amount by another 100,000 pieces, which I find even more incredulous. If the council were to purchase a dedicted museum site for an industrial musem this store could be combined with that museum, I mean what is the point of storing so many pieces in this way anyway and what are they storing them for? They allready occupy a 4.5 acre site at Dolman Street, so where are they going to expand to eventually? Surely the question must be asked, is this the best use of Birmingham ratepayers money? It is also a great shame that what must be the majority of Birminghams collections is hidden away in a store when a large percentage of it should really be on view to the public in approrpriate suroundings, not in warehouse shelving.
Please support the campaign for a Birmingham Industrial Museum.
Jon Price
www.madeinbirmingham.org