New home for Dudley Museum opens
A Black Country town's new museum will reopen at a new home this weekend.
Collections will be going back on public display after moving from Dudley's long-standing museum, which closed at the end of last year.
Artefacts have been shifted to the Dudley Archives on Tipton Road, near the Black Country Living Museum, where the new museum will be based.
Work has been going on behind the scenes to create the new space after Dudley Museum, on St James' Road, was closed after more than 100 years in the town.
Halesowen wheelchair tennis superstar Jordanne Whiley was officially opening the new museum today.
Her Wimbledon kit will be on display alongside two of record-breaking jumper Joe Darby’s belts and the Duncan Edwards collection, which is on loan from Manchester United.
Dudley Council faced a barrage of criticism when it was announced the museum was to shut in a bid to save money.
Other display sections include geology, dinosaurs, fine art, glass and social history.
But they are confident the new area at the archives will is appropriate to highlight the town's history.
Councillor Ian Kettle, cabinet member responsible for tourism, said: "The design of the new museum will allow people to discover all that this great and good about Dudley borough, from the geology that made the landscapes we enjoy today to the people past and present who make the borough a place to be proud of.”
