Black Country Festival celebrations get off to a bostin' start - with PICTURES
If it had not been for the 1st Earl of Dudley, the Black Country would never have existed.
So it seemed appropriate for Lord William Ward to reappear for this year's Black Country Festival celebrations.
Lord Ward, played by Nigel Westwood-Burgess, was at the Black Country Living Museum on Saturday along with his wife, Countess of Dudley, Lady Georgina, played by Michelle Darby.
The earl is accredited with starting the industrial revolution to the area, opening mines and furnaces in Dudley and Bilston, employing hundreds of men.
He opened an asylum for workers who had been blinded, before it was turned in to the Guest Hospital, which was situated opposite the museum in Dudley.
At the museum over the weekend Black Country trail was held to take visitors around the attractions as well as meeting some its characters.
The event, called the Black Country Weekend, was a taster for Black Country Day, taking place on Friday.
Also over the weekend was Street Food Affair in Stourbridge on Friday night followed by fun days at Netherton Park and Upper Gornal.
Mr Westwood-Burgess said: "I think it is important to celebrate the day because it is a time of great invention and industry for this area.
"It is so rich in heritage I think we should tell everyone about it and be proud of it."
He added: "Without Lord Ward we would not have had the industrial revolution in this year.
He started most of the mines and furnaces - without him there would not have been a red sky at night."
Also at the event was the museum's poet in residence, Dave Reeves.
Mr Reeves ran a workshop outside the Women's Institute where he turned people's descriptions of the area into rhymes and verses in the Black Country dialect.
One read 'hard work from money to light, the smell of beer and cod, a scratchin's not something you to an itch, a crusty cob's not a swan it's a roll'.
He said: "There is also scepticism when you bring in poetry, but people are interested in what you come out with."
He added: "We should celebrate our dialect, it is something to be proud of."
