New sculpture celebrates city's porcelain heritage

A new artwork has been unveiled to celebrate the history of porcelain manufacturing in Worcester.

Former staff at the Royal Worcester porcelain works in Diglis, now home to the Museum of Royal Worcester, were invited to the first public viewing of Marks of the Manufactory, 275 years to the day since the works was founded.

"It's a very, very special day," said museum trustee Paul Crane, whose eighth great-grandfather Dr John Wall co-founded Royal Worcester on 4 June 1751.

The firm entered administration in 2008, and the brand is now owned by Portmeirion Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent.

Crane said it was particularly special to be able to celebrate the anniversary with former workers.

"They hold unique stories, and we hold... audio memoirs here in the archive, and that's just as important as the [pottery]," he said.

The sculpture, cast in bronze and resembling a repaired vase, was inspired by a sketch found in the museum's archives.

It was created by artists Neil Musson and Jono Retallick, known as Musson+Retallick, who specialise in "site-specific art".

"The idea was that it was a broken vessel that had been reconstituted, bringing together fragments and elements of memory and people's stories," said Retallick.

"Of course it's about the porcelain, but it's actually about the people who made the porcelain in this amazing place where people lived their lives and shared time together."

The sculpture forms part of a trail of plaques around the site which play recordings of the memories of former workers.

Mike Braddock, who worked at the site for 40 years, first as an electrician, then maintenance manager and finally works engineer, said: "Whether it was the yard, the building, the kilns, the machinery, I was responsible for it.

"It was very, very interesting. I'm probably the only person who's been in every room."

It was at Royal Worcester that he met Anne, his wife of 68 years.

She said she was "heartbroken" when the works closed down.

"I think every family in Worcester had somebody working here - aunties, uncles, fathers, mothers," she explained. "Absolutely wonderful place to work."

Jordan Leaman attended on behalf of his late grandfather Brian, who worked as a ceramics painter in the 1960s and 1970s.

He said he wished he had asked his relative more about his time at Royal Worcester when he had the chance.

"It's quite emotional," he said. "I'd like to think he's watching over proudly right now, and that he's just glad to see he's still remembered."

As part of their history class at school, a group of 14-year-olds have been making podcasts based on archive recordings with former Royal Worcester workers.

"I think if I hadn't taken part in this project I wouldn't have learnt about any of this," said one. "So it was really an eye-opener."

"The most interesting thing was learning about their jobs, what they all had to go through, all the different sections and jobs and how hard it all was," another added.

The city's mayor Tor Pingree said: "To be here to unveil this wonderful sculpture, it feels like we're making history. So many people in Worcester can trace their roots back to people who worked here.

"When you go to other places and you talk about Worcester, you always bring up the sauce, Elgar, and porcelain.

"It will continue to be a huge part of our history, and it's really important that the next generation, the next, and the next, know about what happened here."

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