Saturday 13th September 2025, 2pm
Friends, Walsallians, Countrymen, lend me your ears!
I come not to bury Walsall Leather Museum, but to praise it.
Last February I and a whole bunch of other people came together to demonstrate against plans to ‘relocate’ Walsall Leather Museum in a cost saving exercise by Walsall Council. With the bare minimum of consultation, WMBC had decided that the museum located in a custom renovated former leatherworks precisely one rendition of Slade’s Come on feel the Noize away from New Art Gallery Walsall (itself repeatedly under threat) was too far away and not fit for purpose.
We managed to successfully change their mind. Temporarily.
It has become apparent that the planned relocation is still very much on the cards, with the Council (who have stated that the building IS DEFINITELY NOT BEING SOLD TO WALSALL COLLEGE) refusing to entertain ideas to save it from leather industry figures, creative and heritage industry figures and members of the public.
This weekend sees the second annual Makerfest, a celebration of makers in the town and Walsall’s creative heritage. I’m planning to rock up at 2pm to do an hour long performance as the Cantess in a static demonstration/rally, with the aim of galvanising the people attending the event to voice their displeasure at WMBC’s incredibly opaque intentions towards the town’s history.
I’m of Walsall. I’m proud to be from Walsall. I’m proud to be from a town which produced delightfully eccentric travelogues, introduced leather to heavy metal and was the birthplace of the voice which announces when it’s Christmas.
I was nine when the Leather Museum was opened in 1988, and since then it’s always been one of two stops (the other being the New Art Gallery) that I make when bringing visitors to the town. From exchange students to art colleagues, every single one of them has been amazed at the richness of Walsall’s history and overjoyed at the prospect of making their own leather key ring. A great deal of that has been due to the location – a former leatherworks which has been custom fitted to act as an accessible museum space, giving a unique contextual experience in respect of the working methods and conditions of the leather industry.
I cannot overstate the effect the leather museum (and the other museums Walsall used to have) had on both my upbringing and my current artistic practice. As an individual from a working class background having this level of cultural provision was incredibly important as an equaliser – I was worth something. Walsall is an ancient town, which still had an international voice and a long history that I was innately part of. Being able to access this locally and without financial cost meant I was able to go there when feeling low, and find something to relate to at some of the worst points in my life.
As an artist the history of making in the town has had a profound impact on me, as I work in a myriad of mediums to best fit the idea. My practice is very much research based and frequently examines obscure local folklore – much of this relates back to the Leather Museum and the stories I first found there. There is a direct link between the work I’ve done celebrating Wednesbury for Multistory, my project examining how we relate to human remains in the modern age and my childhood musings about Queen Victoria’s saddle. Growing up with these museums and them still being there as a neurodiverse adult with long term medical conditions helped instill a level of confidence that I could do something, I was worth something and I could build a life.
So that’s why on Saturday I’m going to stand and rant in the rain. I cannot let this go easily. I’m going to scream and shout to try to save one of the insitutions that was there for me for all these years.
Vicky Roden 