News Item (17-12-2008)

Rubbish Taxes Help Recycle History!

Money which comes from tax on the waste we all throw away will help to recycle history at the Black Country Living Museum.  Biffaward, a multi-million pound environmental fund, managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, which uses landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services, have donated £45,750 towards the reconstruction of Morrall's Gentlemen's Outfitters.  Morrall's Outfitters is one of a number of shops being brought back to life in the Museum's new High Street and is part of the £10 million Street's Ahead expansion programme.     

Old fashioned skills are breathing new life into the Hall Street shop.  Heritage Joinery Ltd, who have just completed complex restoration work on Kenilworth Castle, are piecing together the past using only an old black and white photograph of the shop for inspiration.

Mike Skillen from Heritage Joinery said: "The shop front is a typical late 19^th century timber design which is, by today's standards, quite complicated.  The window has intricate tracery at the top and is framed by a number of columns.  Very few people today have the skills and craftsmanship to reproduce this kind of work."

Morrall's Gentlemen's Outfitters would have offered wholesale bespoke tailoring with customers enjoying a made-to-measure service.  Morrall's Shop front will reflect the fashions of the day and window displays will contain vintage clothing and reproductions.  Woollen overcoats, flannel trousers, blazers, shirts and detachable collars will all be making a comeback and at bargain 1930s prices!

For more information please visit www.bclm.co.uk