Black Country Living Museum chainmaker retires

Kevin Lowe trained "a new generation of metalworkers", the museum said

A chainmaker at a museum where actors take people back to industrial Britain has handed over his hammer, following his 30-year association with the site.

Kevin Lowe, who has volunteered and worked for the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, trained "a host of new metalworkers", it said.

His skills and passion while helping out "ultimately led to a tremendous career", the attraction stated.

He said he had "never woken up in the morning and not wanted to go to work".

Discussing his favourite thing about chainmaking, the blacksmith mentioned "being able to pass on the skills, as well as enjoying the job and the people".

Mr Lowe started his contribution to the museum as a volunteer in 1992 and, when an opportunity came about for him to learn how to forge chain and nails, he applied.

As a metalworker, principally a chainmaker, he demonstrated "one of the many crafts that anchored the Black Country to the centre of the industrial revolution", the museum said.

He started his contribution as a volunteer in 1992

The spotlight was shone on the history of chainmaking during the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, where actors dressed as chainmakers pulled the now iconic bull into the stadium.

Women chainmakers worked in sheds in the backyards of their homes hammering out chainlinks for five shillings (25p) for a 50-hour week, according to Historic England.

The conditions endured by the workers and their demands for a minimum wage caused a national scandal and in 1910 they held a strike, which is credited with changing the lives of thousands of workers earning poor wages.

As the heritage attraction wished Mr Lowe a "fond farewell", it stated he was "hanging up his hammer and picking up the golf club, taking an early retirement".

Head of people and culture Suki Baden said many colleagues had benefited from "his knowledge, expertise and the enthusiasm for nail making and many other heritage skills".

He said he had "never woken up in the morning and not wanted to go to work"

When asked about his lasting impressions of the museum, Mr Lowe mentioned friendly staff and watching it grow.

"Don't worry I'm going to come back - I want a pint in the [recreated historic] Elephant and Castle and I will have some fish and chips, which I haven't done for a very long time."