'Jumble sale' museum opens

'Jumble sale' museum opens

Stella Mitchell thinks Britain used to be a better place

A museum packed with tens of thousands of everyday items, including a 1980s mobile phone, is to open in Shropshire.

The National Museum of British Popular Culture is home to everything from train sets, 1950s kitchen products to an Anderson Shelter.

The museum, which is located in the Market Hall in Craven Arms, has also been dubbed the Land of Lost Content.

Stella Mitchell, the attraction's owner, told the BBC's Midlands Today programme that she is trying to recreate the innocent charm of a bygone age.

In the past we were content with our lot

Museum owner Stella Mitchell

"I called it the Land of Lost Content because I think that's what's missing about today.

"In the past we were content with our lot.

"And it's from the poem A Shropshire Lad by AE Housman, so it's rather convenient."

Mrs Mitchell told BBC News Online that her passion for all things old began 30 years ago.

"I started collecting as a student in Birmingham in the early 1970s. I got into it at the rag market there.

"I've gone to a million car boot sales since then and hundreds of jumble sales."

Hornby trains

Mrs Mitchell, who receives no outside funding for the museum, said it is difficult for her to choose a favourite item.

"We've got a nice collection of Biba clothes - they thrill me to bits because that's my era.

"But my Hornby train sets can give me just as much pleasure.

"Everything from the past delights me."

The museum is due to open to the public for the first time on Monday.