A roomful of giant computers... all feebler than the digital watch on a child's wrist; HERITAGE UNVEILED.

FROM 5,000-year-old pottery to a 1938 electric bin lorry - almost the whole of human history and culture is stored in a Nechells warehouse.

Pallets containing an old carousel horse, the wheel from Donald Campbell's land-speed record car, Bluebird, and a 1950s television set are piled on huge shelves, stored in darkness away from prying eyes.

Under the dim storeroom lights are a red telephone box, the old door from the Victoria Square fountain pump room, and an art deco fish and chip fryer.

In another room are motorbikes, Rover cars and 1960s computers which could fill a room, but with less processing power than a digital watch.

About half-a-million different artefacts, from tiny insects to giant steam engines and statues are kept under wraps in the museum collection centre.

These are pieces of history and art deemed not interesting enough to go on permanent public display in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery or the Thinktank Science Museum.

Their only exposure is twice a year when the general public are invited in for a look around, or when special interest groups or academics request a peek.

Recently a Society of turners came in to cast their eager eyes over the collection of industrial lathes, while archeologists have enjoyed browsing at the thousands of fragments of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Chinese pottery.

While the larger items have enjoyed some exposure at the twice yearly open day, for the first time next month many smaller pieces including pottery, toys, radios, irons, kettles, clocks and even a group of eerie stuffed animals will be seen.

Phil Watson, who runs the museum collection centre, said that these items had until very recently been hidden away in a range of storerooms and warehouses dotted about the city.

But about four years ago they began collecting them under one roof at 25 Dollman Street.

The collection grows week by week. Only recently 100,000 specimens of insects, collected in glass cases, was delivered.

Mr Watson said that there were several reasons that many were not on permanent public view.

"There is not enough public display space in our museums and galleries. Some are loaned out to other museums.

"We currently have machines at an industrial museum in Cheshire, while some of our paintings have travelled the world."

The Thinktank museum, at Millennium Point, loans many of the former science museum's exhibits.

Mr Watson added: "We have a lot of duplicate material. There are about 60 radios and we do need to put them all out for the general public.

"If a historic radio club wants to see them, that can be arranged."

Fragile items such as paintings, which are kept in the dark to preserve the colours, make occasional appearances at temporary exhibitions.

Other artefacts are of purely academic interest and would not pull a crowd.

But while there is only the briefest opportunity to see the reserve collection this Saturday, September 8, there are long term plans to have it fully catalogued and placed online as a virtual exhibition.

To do this, staff must photograph the exhibits and translate the academic catalogues into plain English - a painstaking process with hundreds of thousands of items.

The open day runs from 10am to 4pm, and admission is free.

Details are on www.bmag.org.

uk and 0121 303 2834.

CAPTION(S):

SAVED...a carousel horse.