Staffordshire Day

On Sunday 1st May 2016 Staffordshire will hold its first ever #StaffordshireDay and the whole county will be celebrating everything that is great about Staffordshire. The 1st May marks the anniversary of the creation of Staffordshire’s world-famous Wedgwood pottery company in 1759, founded by Josiah Wedgwood.

#StaffordshireDay, which is set to become an annual event, will see a wide range of activities, promotions, special offers and events taking place throughout the county.

Activities lined up so far on Sunday 1st May in Stoke-on-Trent are shown on the list below. To see what's taking place across the rest of the county or to see how you can join in to celebrate the first ever #StaffordshireDay visit EnjoyStaffordshire's Staffordshire Day website.

Join in the conversation on twitter #stokeisontheup #StaffordshireDay

Special limited edition Moorcroft Vase produced to celebrate Staffordshire Day - The Last Smoke

As people visit The Potteries to celebrate Staffordshire Day on the Sunday 1st May they may notice the odd bottleoven en route. From the 1870’s to the 1950’s a visitor to The Potteries wouldn’t have been able to ignore the thousands of bottleovens belching out odious fumes. Once cooking through the various stages – smoking, biscuit (first firing) and glost (second firing) - at up to 1250 degrees celsius, the bottleoven would be used for up to five days. William Moorcroft originally built four bottleovens at Moorcroft’s Sandbach Road Heritage Visitor Centre and Museum, whilst some factories had nearly thirty sprouting up into the skyline like clusters of toadstools. Fortuitously for the people of Staffordshire, the Clean Air Acts of the 1960’s ended the reign of the bottleoven and most were demolished after the last smoke. The remaining few bottleovens, like Moorcroft’s own Grade II listed bottle oven, are now protected from demolition, and artists, potters and writers alike can only imagine the city aglow.

Nostalgically, Moorcroft designer, Emma Bossons FRSA, captures the last smoke in her own design to mark Staffordshire Day. Plumes of mysterious grey-blue smoke waft around the neck of the vase like billowed sails. Draping and curling around bulging and slender bottleovens alike, a burning-amber tide whispers a new dawn. Unseen within, the dancing, ferocious flames from the coal fires rage in The Last Smoke.

The Staffordshire Day vase is limited to only 15 pieces (Moorcroft's smallest edition this year) and is priced at £440. The vase can be ordered via the Moorcroft Collectors' Club on 01782 820510. www.moorcroft.com