Having spent my teenage years saving up my lunch money to spend in Topshop at Merry Hill there was a sense of nostalgia returning to Brierley Hill.
This time, I skipped the shopping centre and discovered a different side of the town—its people, its history, its creativity, and the vibrant communities that give it life today.
Over six months, I worked as Lead Artist for Wildworks on the Phoenix Project with Brierley Hill Cultural Consortium. It all began on a Saturday morning in March 2024 at Brierley Hill Library, where we met Frank Chamberlain, Project Co-ordinaor for the Cultural Consortium there. Frank is the ultimate community connector, who seemed to know everyone and everything about the town.
That weekend, local artists, writers, and theatre makers joined us to explore Wildworks’ practice. We sang, cried, played, rang bells and met Lorna, Claire, Jake, Kim, and many others doing remarkable work for their community and the arts in the West Midlands.
Over the next few months, until September, I collaborated with these artists, supported by Mercedes Kemp, Wildworks Founding Artist. We were to develop a number of short pieces for a sharing in September 2024.
Our process was to visit and create events for a number of communities, hear their stories and then create 3 site responsive performances along with a story shop in Brierley Hill market. Each artist chose a community to work with, and with a bit of Frank’s local magic, we set off on a journey to discover the heart of Brierley Hill and its people.
Along the way, we connected with the over-60s group at Oakfield Community Centre, Canal & River Trust workers, canal users and residents at the Delph, students and families from Brierley Hill Primary, and the vibrant community of the Ekho Collective at Hawbush Community Garden.
First, Frank, Sallyann, and I worked with Brierley Hill Primary School, where the children threw a lively tea party and invited community members to share their stories. Guests brought treasured objects, photos, and newspaper clippings, sparking curious interviews. The next day, the children transformed these stories into powerful, sensory poems and intricate dioramas. This creative burst became the heart of the Story Shop at Brierley Hill Market, a place where smell, sound, and sight came vividly to life.
Kim Archer worked with the over-60s group to gather stories rooted in Brierley Hill’s past. What stood out was how industry once built a tight-knit community—factories with their own social clubs, and lives shaped by skilled hands crafting glass, brass, and steel.
Together, we created a piece that brought these memories to life through a game of Bingo. Kim wrote short, powerful poems from the stories we collected, performed in St Michael’s Church—a fitting space, as the community centre had become a kind of modern-day church, with Bingo as its weekly ritual.
We couldn’t have done it without Geoff, the group’s legendary Bingo caller. Kim invited him to join the performance, and he turned up on the day in a brilliantly sparkly suit—pure Brierley Hill spirit. Kim’s poems, paired with hand-made flags marking special places, became vivid snapshots of memory—past and present stitched together with pride and humour.
Jake Oldershaw wanted to work with the community that lived on or used the canal. When we first met, we bonded over our shared connection to the canals—both of us living on boats in various places. Jake had lived on a boat nearby, and my grandad had looked after the horses that once pulled steel-laden boats at the canal-side stables just a few miles from where we were. It felt natural to us to explore Brierley Hill’s canal.
We invited people to walk the towpath, share stories, and gather at The Stables over tea and cake to reflect on their ties to this water way—a green thread through the heart of industry, rich with heritage and memory.
Jake led the walk with live music and storytelling, drawing in tales from dog walkers, boat painters and dwellers and volunteers who just loved the canal. The day became a celebration of the canal’s past and present.
From this, Jake created a beautiful piece of writing, Down at Black Delph, weaving together history and lived experience—and of course, it felt only right to perform it aboard the historic icebreaker boat, Bittell.
Lorna Rose and Claire Tedstone collaborated with the Ekho Collective, supported by Debbie McDonald—another brilliant Creative we met during our first weekend in Brierley Hill. Lorna led a poetry workshop exploring personal connections to place, while Claire ran a vibrant “Future Formula” session, inviting ideas for Brierley Hill’s future.
The resulting poems were rich with places, people, and memories—so it felt only right to honour them in an epic story, co-written by Lorna and Claire. The tale unfolded across multiple locations, beginning at the library before guiding audiences along a hand-drawn map to the canal, where the story grew more magical and surreal.
Blending characters of past and present, their piece brought a sense of magical realism to the very ground we stood on. Lit by firelight under the trees, it became a true Brierley Hill fairy tale.
Our final sharing was a day-long, multi-location experience—threading together the stories and performances we’d created over six months. A brilliant audience journeyed with us from start to finish, through sun, showers, and surprises. By the end, we were a little soggy, but nothing beat gathering in a Black Country pub at 10pm, warming up with cobs, crisps, and good company—a perfect ending to our time together. For now turra abit.
This Project was funded by Arts Council England Lottery Fund
Photo Credit: Paul Stringer and Frank Chamberlain
Amy Pitt is an Associate Artist at Wildworks, Set designer, Theatre Maker and Visual Artist, over the past 14 years has worked as a Designer and Visual Artist for Punchdrunk, Nigel and Louise, Battersea Arts Centre, National Youth Theatre, National Theatre Wales and Museum of London
