Tuesday 25 September 2012

Another enjoyable day in Birmingham

Today, we decided to visit the Birmingham Jewellery Museum, which had been strongly recommended to us.  As we walked along the canal on our way to the museum…… 

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……… we came across this working boat loaded (literally) to the gunwales.  Not a sight we’ve seen very often.

The museum is in the Jewellery Quarter, about a mile  from the canal, at the old premises of the old Birmingham jewellery makers of Smith and Pepper who closed the workshops in 1981, due to the competition from cheaper imports, and left everything just as it was.   It became a museum in the 1990’s and is still kept just as Smith and Pepper had left it.

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About 40 people would be hard at work in these workshops.

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Our very informative guide, John, gives us a demonstration of how they punched out the blanks for gold broaches. The original operator of this machine did it for 60 years!

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10 workers would be seated at this workstation.

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Shelving holds 2500 pairs of punches and dies for different designs of jewellery.

We had a fantastic time at the museum and could thoroughly recommend a visit if you’re in Birmingham.

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This evening we went to Zizzi in “The Mailbox” for dinner.  Our walk took us along the canal through Brindley Place and Gas Street Basin – it has a great atmosphere after dark.

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Zizzi was very busy indeed and it was amazing to watch how fast the pizza oven operator worked.

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Our very efficient waiter, Olly Vincent, is at university in the city studying and training to be an opera singer.  We’re looking forward to seeing him at Glyndebourne at sometime in the future!

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We had a lovely meal this evening – the atmosphere was great and the service first class.  Like the museum – thoroughly recommended.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Guys

    Birmingham's back to backs are worth a visit as well (no more than a mile from town opposite the hippodrome

    J

    ReplyDelete