Stourbridge Glass Museum gets Royal guest of honour at long-delayed opening
The Stourbridge Glass Museum has at last been officially opened by the Duke of Gloucester with artists, schoolchildren among the 150 guests at the long-awaited ceremony.
The cousin of the Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a plaque at the event on Wednesday that was due to have been held last September, but was postponed after the monarch's death.
The visitor attraction has been developed at the site of the former Stuart Crystal glassworks, in High Street, Wordsley, where the first visitors were welcomed 12 months ago after a long-awaited revamp project. It features a variety of displays, storytelling, interactive technology and glass-making demonstrations as well as digital animations and audio, taking visitors back in time 200 years to the historic works.
During his 40-minute visit the royal guest, who has a keen interest in conservation projects, viewed a brief glass-making demonstration, art exhibitions, and a selection of glass pieces including from the Stourbridge Glass Collection, some of which dates to back to the 17th century.
In addition to meeting artists he watched an art activity session attended by pupils, aged nine and 10, from Wordsley's Brook Primary School, in George Street, who were making yellow paper crowns to commemorate the King's upcoming coronation. Head Maria Fellows described how the Duke helped a pupil who was having difficulty getting his crown glued.
"The pupil was having difficulty with his gluing and the Duke helped. The children really enjoyed it. They had been chosen to attend. They recognised the importance of the occasion. They also got a chance to see some glass being made," Mrs Fellows explained.
Graham Knowles, chairman of museum operator the British Glass Foundation, said he was delighted with the opening which he said "could not have gone any better".
"We have been able to share all aspects of the museum with the Duke. He was very knowledgeable himself. He was genuinely interested in what we do and with the displays and asked all the right questions.
"It was a mark of credibility. We started off with nothing and in the early days it was very difficult to get people to support us financially without back history. We have now been getting successful grants and repeat funding. People are happy that we are hitting our targets. We have great team spirit among our volunteers and small staff team which shows from the comments left in our visitors' book and online," Mr Knowles said.
Glass-blower Madeleine Hughes, 30, of the Allister Malcolm studio, based at the museum gave the party a brief demonstration of the work created on site and said: "I made a silver leaf and stringer paper weight. It's a nice and simple item to make which shows the different skills involved in glass-making.
"It takes about six to seven minutes. The Duke was looking as I did it. When it was ready he said it was good."
Among the guests were Lord-Lieutenant for the West Midlands Sir John Crabtree; Lord-Lieutenant's Cadet for St John Ambulance, Cameron Wood, 17, of Kingswinford; High Sheriff Wade Lin; Dudley South MP Mike Wood; and broadcaster Bob Warman.
The Duke also presented an award to five-year-old Heidi Keating, of Widnes, the winner of a national glass design competition run by the Primary Science Teaching Trust during his visit.
