Shropshire Tourist Information and Visitor Guide

Where does one start when you want to describe a collection of such magnitude and importance as the one in The Land of Lost Content?

First, I guess its best to let everyone know where to find it.

The collection now lives in the lovely old Craven Arms market hall with its yellow and blue brick work and trimmed arched windows. It’s quite a fitting place for a collection steeped in the history of the British people, an old hall where the people used to meet for sales, social conversation and to pass the day.

To visit the museum you will be doing relatively the same thing, reliving the past; watching its development through the ages from Victorian/Edwardian times to just about present day and seeing what impact the changing times have had on our lives, our outlooks, our values, and how they have made us what we are today, be it for better or for worse.

After you finish your visit you will have to decide for yourselves if we have turned out healthier and happier as we have changed thru the evolvement of new additions to our lives. Perhaps you will decide that the simpler times were all we ever needed; then again, you might think that you could never get through a day without using electrical and digital gadgets and possessions of the 21st century.

The museum is 3 floors of 32 individual exhibit themes based on life in the 20th century, collected, collated and preserved by Stella Mitchell and her husband.

The collection has evolved over the past 32 years and continues to develop as Stella rescues more of the past or people come bearing donations towards her exhibits because they feel confident that she is the right person to entrust with something that was near and dear to themselves or a loved one.

Stella’s exhibit themes encompass every aspect of change and development in the past century and once you have viewed her collections you will be amazed at all the changes that have taken place, all the inventions, the different ways we now communicate, telegraph vs photo mobile phones; the way we dressed, from things for comfort and warmth to clothes which shocked some and probably made you uncomfortable when you sauntered about; to today where you will only wear an item of clothing for a limited time and then will give it away or throw it away.

At the beginning of the exhibits’ era, you will see how what we ate was simple and pure with no chemicals and preservatives, there was no such thing as going out to a takeaway meal, meals were prepared at home and lunches were taken to work and money was tight!

You will see that we were once a society which “made do” with every little thing (and Stella has all those “little things” in her exhibits) and now we have the need to if not keep up with the neighbours, outdo them.

Children used to be content with toys and clothes that were necessities and not by choice, where today everything is high tech and clothes are as dispensable as a cigarette lighter today, as matches were in the early days.

As you walk about, there is music in the air from all the music eras of the times. You will find a display which traces the wireless’ development through the ages and see that although it was once our main form of entertainment in the home, it is one of the few things which continues to be dominate in our homes, despite the inventions of TV, videos, DVD’s.

Films and news reels once played a big part in letting the community know what was going on in the world and there is a display to show that. It was not really until the King died and we had his funeral and Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation that people started to get TV’s and the film era started to decline, but even then as you look into Stella’s collection at the screens of yesterday’s TVs, try to imagine how much one actually could make out on the tiny bubble screens and remember there was no colour!

There are conveniently placed chairs where you are able to sit and just really, really look into a display and study its contents. These displays are not just 3D, they are from floor to ceiling, on walls and layers all the way to the back wall.

Stella has information boards which describe each era or theme and then makes a statement on the impact each change has brought about. This information makes you realize the hardships of those who came before us, the unbelievable number of inventions that have taken place over the past 100+ years and how they have impacted people’s lives like our grandparents, parents and finally us. . The old fashioned Christmas is represented; a child’s nursery; the pre-war and post war home of new brides; what holidays were like before everyone left Britain for sunnier climates, more amusements and money was more expendable.

The museum represents a time when Britain was developing (starting pre-electricity) into a more technical country, but things were still British made and people took pride in what they made!

Foods were simple and nourishing and obesity and heart problems were not as prevalent, and then came pesticides, preservatives, plastics, microwaves, flash frozen and fast foods.

You can close you eyes and imagine the sounds and smells of the seaside in the holiday exhibit; can you remember how your feet ached when walking about in platforms, spiked heels or winkle pickers just to be stylish. Remember the smell of the tobacco and sweet shops? What a hit The Beatles made and all their memorabilia is in one display including the LP’s, the posters, the instruments, and even nylons with the Beatles on them!

For the older generation a visit is a walk down memory lane (probably there’s a lot that you’ve forgotten that will come back to you again).

For school children, it’s an opportunity to actually see things they have only read about in the classroom.

Stella encourages school visits and has many time levels that can be seen in depth. For example the children can see what school children used to have to go through to get to school; the use of chalk boards, pen nibs, ink wells, the old lesson books; school uniforms (one thing that is still a school requirement today).

Stella has developed a service for schools in which she makes up 3 boxes that go to the schools, rather than the schools coming to her and she fills them with objects they can pick up and touch in any number of categories-the wars, cooking, any age- like Victorians or the 1950’s, or the rock era.

Stella will do lectures on request and bring some of the oddities of her collections to discuss with the audience or make a quiz in addition as a way of teaching everyone about British life’s changing times.

The Museum has an old fashioned café which can be hired our for nostalgia nights of quizzes or music or identification or lectures and would include a curry or ploughman’s supper.

The museum’s collection is so big and so important it could actually fill many museum buildings given the opportunity to have the space it actually requires and the items are irreplaceable because they are all victims of a lost era, lost lives and lost ideals.

One could spend many days visiting the collections and guaranteed, no matter how many visits you make you will always find something that you haven’t noticed on an earlier visit or didn’t have time to see.

I cannot recommend this museum highly enough. It is not a static, sterile museum (which is what a lot of our museums have now turned into because of new regulations and preservation procedures). It is a piece of living history even though it is all things from the past.

Stella is a warm and friendly hostess to all visitors and is full of knowledge on her collections, so questions are encouraged by young and old alike.

I could talk all day about this museum and still not get below the first surface; it really is a visit one shouldn’t miss and should make time to linger a bit longer than you might expect, so plan to spend some time.