UPDATED! Hell For Leather

Walsall has been known for its leather since the Middle Ages but following the Industrial Revolution, the industry entered a golden age of prosperity, exports boomed and Walsall firms sent their products all over the world. At the turn of the 20th century Walsall was home to nearly a third of all of Britain's saddlers and harness makers. Our currently high-flying football team, Walsall FC are known as The Saddlers. We're also world famous for our bags, most notably Launer, the company who produced the late Queen's handbags.

So proud we are of our leather making heritage that we even have a dedicated museum housed within a former Victorian saddle-making factory in the town centre (see my post HERE) or, I should say, at the moment we have a leather museum but, in its infinite wisdom, our Tory-led council is proposing the museum be closed, the building sold and the collection moved elsewhere, the location yet unknown. This in ours, and many others, opinions is ludicrous. The Leather Museum is Walsall's top rated TripAdvisor destination, it brings visitors into the town from as far afield as Australia and the USA. Our visits to Birmingham's Coffin Works, Silver Factory & Pen Museum were enhanced by being able to experience what it was like for past generations to work in factory conditions, if the collection was to be housed in a disused shop in the town's indoor shopping centre (one of the suggested venues) it would lose its context and visitors wouldn't have that precious connection with our heritage.

Signing online petitions is all well and good but, if you want to be taken seriously you need to get off your arse and take to the streets & on Saturday we did just that, joined by fashion designers, artists, union reps, local historians, Walsall residents and our local MP, the wonderful Valerie Vaz  (in the orange scarf). Liz is next to me and you can just see Jon's green pompom behind us! 

We met up in the shadow of the Sister Dora statute & marched up Park Street accompanied by a Slade soundtrack played at full blast and stood outside the leather museum, waving to the honking horns of passers-by. We made the front cover of the Express & Star HERE and were the main feature on the local TV news on Saturday night, HERE. By the time we got home we were shivering, soaking wet and our feet were aching after a five mile walk but as they say, no pain, no gain! 

That's Lauren Broxton, a local fashion designer who works with leather (see her amazing work, HERE). The placards are written in the Black Country vernacular. We're known as Yam-Yams as a lot of folk say "you am" as opposed to "you are". Dow means "don't" and "Yampy" means mad. 

Beside Lauren is councillor, Eileen Russell, she taught at my junior school and remains the coolest teacher ever.

If this all seems very familiar to you that's because nine years ago we did the same thing...

 On Sunday we popped down to the clearance charity shop for a morning mooch. 

 A first time outing for this Marc Jacobs posh cotton velvet maxi skirt which Nikki gave me on Friday. This 1960s Neatawear aubergine cotton blouse seemed like the perfect match, a bit of a funky Edwardian vibe.

On Monday we headed off to our favourite Black Country town for some more charity shopping. The pickings were pretty slim but rummaging through a basket of tat I spotted these...a pair of Fendi Opal sunglasses! The model is Opal, the colour is Bordeaux and they retailed at £230...I paid £1!

The weather over the last few days has been absolutely dire but I had to stick 'em on for a photo! 

The 1970s hand painted velvet maxi is by Kate Beaver (hello Max, my fabulous friend who found it in a charity shop!)

Today for swimming, a 'Spoons breakfast, charity shopping and dealing with the adulation after being seen on the telly (!), I wore a 1960s Miss Polly for Polly Peck maxi dress I bought from a charity shop in 2017, which never fails to make me feel a bit jollier when the weather's crap. 

 So far this week we've found a Dries Van Noten (Belgian designer) merino wool jumper which would have cost £££!; Suede AllSaints boots (now in Jon's wardrobe); Shirts by White Stuff & Mango (which are also in Jon's wardrobe) and a 1970s handmade patchwork blouse (sadly a bit too tight across my swimmers shoulders!!) 

 A tweed jacket by French label, Comptoir des Cotonniers ; A River Island denim shirt with pearl encrusted collar (love the style, can't stand pearls!) ; Organic cotton Disco sweatshirt by hip Brummie-based label Disko Kids; 1980s Aquascutum fake Astrakan hat; 1980s Topshop jacket from their Gallery label (I had this is burgundy back in the day!); 1980s beaded silk cocktail jacket; 1980s American-made leisure shirt. 

Reading: I finished Bernadine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other on Friday (and bloody loved it). I picked up After You'd Gone in a charity shop recently after several friends recommended Maggie O'Farrell but I'm sorry to say that I didn't really enjoy it. I'm not sure if this book is typical of her writing but I found the characters brittle and tedious, I ploughed on to the end hoping for a miraculous twist but it wasn't to be...sorry to those of you who like her work but she isn't for me. Noddy Holder's biography, Who's Crazee Now? was a fun read especially as I knew so many of the places he mentioned. I had no idea that he went to Blue Coat Infant & Junior School (the same as me, Jon & Liz) and had to laugh when he described the area where we live "as the posh end of town". I borrowed The Various Flavours of Coffee from the library in the forest at the End of the Road festival last year and thought I'd better crack n with it before we go back in September (if they'll have us!) , I'm already loving the protagonist impoverished dandy and wannabe poet, Robert Wallis, for squandering the last of his allowance on a paisley frock coat he'd seen in the window of Liberty (a man after my own heart!) 

We've rewatched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood & Asteroid City and are currently binge watching The Diplomat - if you love a tense political thriller, you'll love this.

UPDATE: We did it! Last night Walsall Council announced that after the public backlash they'd changed their minds and the Leather Museum can stay. Read more about it HERE

Power to the people!