Familiar Theme

Limestone walling

Drawing Text Cloudy Architecture Familiar Identity Material Old Past

Slow Rick stopping to talk to shop keeper

Text Slight breeze Sunny Community Connection Conversation Familiar Friendliness Interacting Lingering People Speeds

Opening takes advantage of another classic view

Drawing Text Cloudy Architecture Familiar High Identity Views

"A tram travels along Wolverhampton Street in Dudley.."

Photo Aesthetic Architecture Beauty Change Difference Familiar Identity Life Memory Missing Old Past People Shelter Speeds Survival Transport Unfamiliar Vehicle Words

Fellow detector friendly hello!

Text Pouring Rainy Community Connection Conversation Familiar Friendliness Happiness Interacting Tiny Things

Nationwide.docx

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Nationwide Millions of members strong Building society Nationwide Staffordshire Portman Nationwide Since ’67 in Dudley town Nearly sixty years serving a community People love a building society don’t they Not quite a bank More like a club They come clutching blue passports A steady trickle Popping in to do their financials There’s bunting over the office door Radio through the speakers Comfy chairs to rest awhile Friendly Homely Familiar Certificates recognise commitment From one to thirty years Ashleigh, Sarah, Isla Lisa, Samantha Displayed on shelves alongside photographs Pride of place The buzzer brings a rush for the door Scurrying footsteps on laminate floor Jangle of keys on a lanyard Always a thank you and a kind welcome As chat starts up About Covid Hearing aids Lost keys Shopping up the town Holidays Pulled back muscles Schools going back Family The drive to Cornwall The cash machine whirs in the background Dispensing spendies for the Full Moon next door As an old couple In matching purple fleeces Shuffle up to the counter together I look at the Community Board Wonder if my wife is up for knitting Bonnets and booties For Russells Hall Or if I know a charity that Might benefit from the community fund Or if I have some spare tins For the food bank There’s a lot going on A lot to support I see stability Even though the future of the High Street Is hard to call Not sure where it’s going Without investment in the shops Which they watch come and go Having looked out the window for six decades Seen it all In all its glory This place is about people Conversation Continuity Permanence In a world that’s shifting fast Leaving some behind Who come here To remember what helpful feels like Connection Belonging Inclusion The couple are at the door now Saying their goodbyes See you next week Take care of yourselves Tarabit As they link arms and Waltz out into the sunshine

Poem Big Things Change Colour Community Connection Consumption Conversation Familiar Friendliness Gift Health Invitations Kindness Missing Moving Old People Sounds

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In this picture from 1914 in Dudley, you can just make out my grandfather. He's the small boy with the cap running across Wolverhampton Street in the days when the trams were still running. Years later we worked out that this day was probably a defining moment in his life, the day he chose never to have a second thought or to be bullied by others. You can see him running. This is because he had stolen the ham you can see him carrying under his arm. This one action started a chain of events for my grandfather that would go on to dominate his formative years. Petty larceny, theft, criminal activity that would shape him, turn him into one of the most notorious villains in the Black Country. When he died in 1972, this photograph turned up amongst his possessions, in a locked drawer of his bureau. We agreed amongst us that no one in the family had ever seen this photo before, curious as to its importance to him. On the back of the photo he had written the date and time, together with a brief note - "Me stealing ham from W.Smiths, butcher". He would have been 10 years old and this was perhaps his first, or at least one of his first criminal acts. We have no idea who took the photograph or how he had come to have the original print in his possession, but it appears that it held some significance for him as he kept it all of his life locked away in his bureau drawer.

Creative writing Imagining Story Text Actions Chance Connection Creativity Familiar Food Identity Imagination Interacting Justice Life Memory Moving Old Past People Speeds Stories Surprise Unfamiliar Words

Caffe Min.docx

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Caffe Min Breakfast Lunch Meal deal Everything you would expect Fresh from the takeaway menu Ham baguette With a little bit of mayonnaise Jacket potato Hot cup of coffee Bacon sarnie Brown sauce Not red Tikka mint mayo panini Something you might not expect Sunglasses! I sit on a long bench Listening to Tainted Love Over the radio Reading one of the many signs About coffee and good vibes Jayne and Mustafa Serve the steady flow of regulars Some sit outside most of the day Watching Chatting Taking it all in There’s always a spot for them As others come and go Mustafa hopes that more regulars Will return From offices When they can The future seems uncertain Until normality returns Since West Brom 27 years ago Jayne and Mustafa Have been working together She says she “has a thick skin to have put up with him for so long” He says “she’s the second woman in his life” Cheerful banter From a lifetime of serving Cooking Cleaning Managing This is their third café in Dudley 23 years and still going Opposite the Full Moon Tables and chairs on the pavement Watching the comings and goings I end up chatting to Kath Over a cup of tea As she gets a sausage baguette For the lady she volunteers with Kath comes every Friday For breakfast with her friends and I see how this all takes shape Regular Reliable Dependable I say goodbye Head back up the town As Magic FM fades in the distance I think I’ll probably pop in again For a cup of tea

Poem Colour Connection Consumption Conversation Familiar Food Future Gift Happiness Interacting Lingering Memory Sounds Stillness Stories Surprise Unfamiliar Words

"Dudley's Edwardian Market Place pictured around 1905."

Photo Aesthetic Architecture Beauty Change Consumption Difference Familiar Identity Life Lingering Memory Missing Old Past People Shelter Stillness Survival Transport Unfamiliar Words

A day out in Dudley Time inside passes slow, So we went out for the day, My favourite place to go, The high street in Dudley I'm sure that you'd agree It's not like any other town, There is lots to do and see And there's space to run around There's a playground there Just in the middle of the street And fruit growing everywhere The strawberries taste so sweet There's lots of places for grown-ups Where they like to chat and sit They say 'hello ya right bab?' And then Tarra a bit. There is no need to in When it's black over bill's mother Because should the rain begin The canopy is the perfect cover The grown-ups pick the veggies And call come get some grub We jump down from our climbing trees And head over to the food hub We get the buz back home for tea And get it down our wazzin I look back on the day with glee My Dudley town is bostin.

Collage Imagining Poem Story Text Abundance Actions Care Community Connection Conversation Culture Emotion Expression Familiar Favourite Things Food Friendliness Funny Future Gift Growing Happiness Imagination Interacting Invitations Joy Kindness Life Moving Nature People Plantlife Play Potential Relaxing Safety Shelter Speeds Stories Taste Voice Words

"Dudley High Street in the early 1900s."

Photo Aesthetic Architecture Beauty Change Consumption Difference Familiar Identity Life Lingering Memory Missing Old Past People Shelter Stillness Survival Transport Unfamiliar Words

Lingered here chatting to the shop keeper!

Text Slight breeze Sunny Community Connection Conversation Familiar Friendliness Interacting Lingering People

Another e-cig

Text Cloudy Familiar Smell

A collage response to a Co.LAB gift for the High St - “It was nice to be able to use the image for something else. It made me think about placing the cut-out roadmap onto a slightly brighter future version, with colour, vibrancy and plantlife, so that it reminds me what we are heading towards, but still with a hark back to the people and the industry that made Dudley the town it is...”

Collage Imagining Abundance Aesthetic Agency Beauty Change Colour Connection Contrast Craft Creativity Emotion Expression Familiar Future Gift Identity Imagination Industry Interacting Joy Life Making Material Memory Moving Nature Opportunity Past Plantlife Potential Stories

After investigating the history, heritage, culture and institutions of Dudley and its High street, I made a kaleidoscope gift based around the themes ‘overlooked’, ‘resilience’ and ‘layered’. Although sight is the most immediate sense in which many people engage with their surroundings, it’s not until you look beneath the surface and start to see things from a new perspective that you fully appreciate what is there and the potential beyond. I wanted people to engage with my gift, have fun and evoke a sense of nostalgia, whilst also using it as a way to look forward to what the High Street could be, all the while embodying the CoLab Dudley principle of allowing this object to be a co-op piece. The gift relates to the people and allows for each user to interpret and express their own thoughts.

Model Other visual delight Community Culture Expression Familiar Future Gift Hiding Layer Memory Overlooked Past People Play Potential Resilient

Trad ground materials + patterns

Drawing Text Cloudy Familiar Identity Material Old Past Pattern

The classic Dudley view up to spire of Top Church

Drawing Text Cloudy Architecture Familiar High Identity Views