75 babies, born in the Black Country will be gathering at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley on Thursday 12 October to celebrate the official opening of the TikTok famous museum’s newest development - a Call the Midwife-esque Infant Welfare Centre that will catapult visitors back to the swinging 60’s.
The 75 babies signify 75 years of both the NHS and the Windrush generation - both stories that will be told through the new development and through the museum's new historic characters. This includes Jamaican Midwife Cicilyn Synclair who is based on the real oral histories of those who migrated to the Black Country to make it their home.
The building itself is a replica of Lea Road Infant Welfare Centre - a real building in Wolverhampton that is still used today. Visitors will be able to explore the main hall, dispensary and doctor’s office to experience the sights and sounds of the growing National Health Service.
The wider storytelling will also explore key historical milestones like the introduction of the contraceptive pill, the lasting impacts of the Thalidomide scandal and the introduction of vaccinations for conditions like polio and tetanus. The development follows the successful opening of the museum's fully functioning 1940’s-1960’s high street in July, part of the wider Forging Ahead project - a development that has catapulted BCLM into living memory and aims to tell the story of the region at a time of huge cultural diversification.
As well as some photo opportunities with the babies (who the museum plans to keep in touch with to chart their unique experiences of Black Country life as they grow up in the region) they’ll also have parents available to interview, historic characters and representatives from the museum who can chat to you about the importance of preserving this incredible piece of Black Country history for future generations.
While they’ll only have the 75 babies available on this date, they can set up interviews with the research team who led the project at the museum as well as photos/filming of the development so please do shout if that would be of interest.
