Beer we go with project fundraiser
A brewery is producing a special beer which will help fund a project to create a memorial to the pioneering Shropshire ironmaster Abraham Darby I at his birthplace in the Black Country.
Ten per cent of the sales of bottles of "Abraham Darby 1st" produced by Holden's Brewery will be going to the fund.
The beer from the Woodsetton-based brewery is being launched shortly before Christmas and the label, designed by artist Steve Field, depicts the proposed memorial design.
Mandy Caddick, a local resident who came up with the memorial idea, said: "We are hopeful that the memorial will be in place in Woodsetton at the end of 2018 or early 2019 for the 310th anniversary of the opening of Abraham's first furnace.
"Abraham Darby 1st was born in Woodsetton and this memorial will not only honour his place of birth but the great man's achievements in the Industrial Revolution and forming the way in which we live today. This will be a wonderful monument for the Borough, which is why I had the idea last year to have a memorial to Abraham."
Abraham Darby I came to Coalbrookdale where in 1709 he smelted iron from coke, rather than charcoal, which was to revolutionise iron production and pave the way for the Industrial Revolution.
