Views around the National Brewery Centre. Taken as part of a Photography project by students of Burton & South Derbyshire College during 2019.
When a Volunteer suggested a display of photographs, I said brilliant, but where do we start?
Our archive holds a wealth of images from breweries of the past in various stages of prosperity, ranging from their peak production periods to their demolition and closure.
The task was then to utilize our Volunteer expertise in photography and to hopefully encourage the next generation to interact with the subject.
A successful approach to Burton & South Derbyshire College’s Photography course led to our final choice of images.
The students had the opportunity to visit the site and photograph our Collection from their own perspective.
We added a few ‘odd’ items rescued from Brewery closures, and we all felt that it was a job well done!
The display was on show in our Temporary Exhibition space from Oct 2019 to Feb 2020.
It was so engaging we chose the content for one of our first online exhibitions, so I hope you enjoy it!
Below are two sections, the first section consists of a selection of photographs from the museum archive featuring a wide range of pictures of brewery sites across Burton in various stages of prosperity and demolition. The second section consists of a series of photographs taken by the students from Burton & South Derbyshire college for this exhibition, which include various objects that were recovered from demolished and closed brewery sites across Burton.
Items on display at The National Brewery Centre
A selection of items recovered from the demolition of the Breweries in Burton
Brewing funnel from Bass No 2 Brewery
Trade tools of yesteryear. From the metalsmiths departments.
Wooden patterns and cobbles retrieved from a brewery demolition site.
Windows were made with the Bass triangle incorporated. These frames were believed to be from a demolished pump house in Burton.
These drainpipes may well have hailed from one of the Swadlincote potteries famed for heavy duty stoneware.
‘Beauty in a brick. Even the ventilating bricks had a design and were fired locally.
MODERN VIEWS OF THE BREWERY BUILDINGS
‘Seeing things with new eyes’, the students picked shots that appealed to them on form, content and colour.
I hope you agree they did very well!
Where the horse shuffled
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Burton and South Derbyshire College students and staff for supporting the partnership project
Eric Gaffney, volunteer at the National Brewery Centre who has coordinated and curated the selection of materials
Judith Blair, volunteer at the National Brewery Centre who has expertly arranged and displayed the materials on exhibition
Caroline Alston, volunteer at the National Brewery Centre for research
Luke Rostance; Online Volunteer for co-ordinating the final product.