Meeting will explore Cradley workers role in building Titanic (From Halesowen News)

Meeting will explore Cradley workers role in building Titanic

10:11am Friday 6th November 2009

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A CRADLEY history wants to unearth information about the work of local craftsmen on the Titanic as part of a £49k Heritage Lottery funded project.

Cradley Then and Now is appealing for anyone with information on craftsnen who worked on the doomed ship to attend a meeting at Unitarian Church Hall, Park Lane, Cradley, on Monday November 23.

Andrew Lounds, an expert on the Titanic’s history, will be present to talk ‘one-to-one’ about work on building the Titanic.

Cradley Then and Now secretary Jill Guest, said: “Cradley workers, particularly local chainmakers, were renowned for their hard work which contributed significantly towards completing the Titanic, but a whole cottage industry of large and small trades dotted about the Black Country was involved in fitting out the ship.

"Andrew Lounds is extremely keen to explore further the involvement that local craftsmen and women had in that.“ The project, which began three months ago, is called Cradley at Work and Play and aims to record memories of the history of the area. It is being spearheaded by Harry Bloomer.

Mr Bloomer said: “Some old 16 millimetre films have re-surfaced and are now being processed for inclusion in the project.

"We believe the footage will expose rare glimpses into Cradley’s history during the 1900s and we are particularly excited by one reel, which is clearly marked ‘Chainmaking’ on the outside container.

“We will continue to scan the horizon in our search for stories, pictures and memorabilia about Cradley throughout the project and repeat our appeal for everyone to get in touch if they think they have something that may be useful to us or memories to share.”

Me Bloomer will demonstrate several games popular with previous generations in Cradley at the meeting.

Anyone interested in sharing knowledge of games, pastimes or hobbies, is also invited to attend.

The group is also keen to hear from people with information on all aspects of work in general connected to Cradley.

The meeting starts at 7.30pm.

Visit the website www.cradleylinks.co.uk for details or call Harry Bloomer on 01384 635969 or e mail info@h-arts.co.uk.

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