‘I’m excited! I always feel like Brierley Hill (and the rest of the Black Country) is a bit of a sleeping beauty. She fell asleep some time in the mid 80s and I’m hoping that this work might finally wake her again.”
Workshop Participant
THE PHONIEX PROJECT – BRIERLEY HILL
Wildworks collaborated with Brierley Hill Cultural Consortium to create The Phoenix Project which explored the town of Brierley Hill through the memories and dreams of the people who live there. It lifted stones of the towns’ living-rockpool environments and discovered what lied beneath. A people-driven development process that culminated in a final sharing of stories.
There was an overwhelmingly positive response to this project, from the artists who co-created new work with community members, from workshop participants and live performance audiences.
84% said they learned something new about Brierley Hill and 95% said they would like to come to a future Brierley Hill storytelling event.
Story Shop
We 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.
Bingo – Kim Archer
Creative, Kim Archer, worked with the over-60s group to gather stories rooted in Brierley Hill’s past. 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.
Brierley Hill Canal – Jake Oldershaw
Jake Oldershaw worked with the community that lived on or used 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.
Firelight Performance – Lorna Rose and Claire Tedstone
Lorna Rose and Claire Tedstone collaborated with the Ekho Collective, supported by Debbie McDonald. They led a poetry workshops and 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.
Read more from Project lead and Wildworks Associate Artist, Amy Pitt here.
This project was funded by Arts Council England Lottery Fund
