WORK to move an historic former Dudley borough library to the Black Country Living Museum is gathering pace. Woodside Library, on Stourbridge Road in Holly Hall, is being dismantled piece by piece with help from Dudley Council. The library will be rebuilt brick-by-brick to become a dramatic centrepiece of the heritage attraction’s new 1940s-1960s Black Country town, part of the museum’s major Forging Ahead development. Andrew Lovett, chief executive officer at the museum, said: We are so proud to be able to give Woodside Library a new home as an integral part of our new capital development, BCLM: Forging Ahead. The project is now more important than ever to the future of Black Country Living Museum.
IN a way the death of the Duke of Edinburgh will take a bit of fun out of Royal visits. Accompanying The Queen, Prince Philip visited Worcester five times and there was always expectation in the air as to what he might say. Reporters hoovered through the crowds afterwards seeking out the people he had spoken to in case there was a quotable, or maybe unquotable, line. However, the Prince, for all his unpredictability, never obliged in the Faithful City. The deferential few paces behind Her Majesty on royal walkabouts, Philip invariably had a twinkle in his eye and the keen observation of a military man. Not much escaped his attention. And, of course, there was the wicked sense of humour.