Images recall Bilston's industrial heyday
Released: 7 September 2007
Scores of photographs, archives and artefacts have been combined with oral history for the fascinating Trades of Bilston exhibition opening this weekend.
From the heavy industries of GKN Sankey and Bilston Steelworks, through to the shops and services established to cater for local people's needs and tastes, the exhibition is a celebration of the past which shows how Bilston has been shaped by industry.
Drawings by Bilston-born artist Dave Gunning and prints by Harry Eccleston also illustrate the magnitude of industry in Bilston while photographs of Bilston Steelworks by Nick Hedges are more personal in their approach and explore the camaraderie which existed between workers.
The exhibition is on the first floor of Bilston Craft Gallery, Mount Pleasant, from tomorrow until Saturday 6 October. The official opening takes place at 11.30am tomorrow and features a talk by Lord Bilston and Dave Gunning.
Cheryl Bailey, of Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies, which is organising the exhibition, said: "We have a large collection of materials related to businesses which, in their heyday, employed thousands of people in the Bilston area, and items from the archives will be interspersed with the memories of local people who worked at the factories.”
Issued by the press office.
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