BABIES from across the Black Country were invited to the celebratory launch of a major new attraction at Dudley’s Black Country Living Museum.

Bosses at the museum in Tipton Road invited 75 babies and their mums or dads to see the attraction’s replica of Wolverhampton’s Lea Road Infant Welfare Centre which will share stories about maternal and infant healthcare in the 1960s.

A combination of archival materials, donated objects and memories have brought the museum’s first medical building to life ready to transport visitors to 1961 and a time when cod liver oil and concentrated orange juice were familiar sights.

Beth Lucas-Pearce and her five-month-old daughter, Eleanor, were among families from Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton invited to the celebration on Thursday October 12 to find out what pre- and post-natal care would have been like 60 years earlier.

She said: “It has been really interesting to see what maternal care was like in the 1960s – the leaflets, the very basic toys, the heavy old-fashioned prams.

“Things have obviously moved on significantly, but the backbone stays the same.”

Halesowen News: The Black Country Living Museum's new costumed characters who will share stories about the Lea Road Infant Welfare Centre The Black Country Living Museum's new costumed characters who will share stories about the Lea Road Infant Welfare Centre (Image: Black Country Living Museum)

Lindsey Westwood, a midwife who brought along baby Imogen, added: “It’s fascinating looking around the building and seeing the equipment on display.

“While midwifery has changed significantly, the ethos of being a midwife and caring for baby and mum remains the same.”

Visitors will be able to explore a waiting room, doctor’s surgery and dispensary, and meet new costumed characters when the centre opens its doors to the public on Monday October 16.

The museum’s brand-new midwife, Cicilyn Sinclair, will share experiences of travelling to the Black Country from Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation; while health visitor Lynne Davies will tell how she helped expectant and new mothers in early motherhood.