Summer fun at Annan Museum
There is lots of free family fun for all at Annan Museum this summer. Quirky quizzes and activities for families feature in the 2014 Annan Museum summer exhibition “Wacky, Weird, Eccentric and Ingenious Inventions”. Upstairs in the museum’s permanent exhibition there is a quiz for older children and the popular Talking Toys Tour for wee ones. Holiday workshops with the countryside ranger service focus on making unusual gadgets and useful things from the past. These workshops are booking up fast with just a handful of places left (telephone 01461 201384 to book for these).
“Wacky, Weird, Eccentric and Ingenious Inventions” is an exhibition of fascinating objects used in everyday life between the years of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Festival of Britain in 1951. An 1851 butter maker, an 1885 Red Edison phonograph, an 1888 head measurer and a 1934 hair waxer and are just some of the bizarre, weird and unusual manufactured devices and gadgets on show in this exhibition. Visitors are invited to try and guess what many of the gadgets are for and then find out more from the information sheets available in the gallery.
Funded by the Friends of Annandale and Eskdale Museums the Talking Toys activity provides families with young children and pre-school groups with a fun resource to stimulate children’s interest and imagination. Each toy has a favourite in the collection of local history objects on display. The children can find out what this is by squeezing the toy and listening to what it says. A guide sheet with photographs of the objects is provided for parents and accompanying adults. Using the sheet they can help to find the objects, look at them and discuss what these were used for in the past.
Museums Officer Fiona Wilson worked with the volunteers to name the toys and select their favourite objects in the museum. Fiona said: “I would like to thank the museum volunteers who got into character to record the voices for their chosen animals and the Friends of Annandale and Eskdale Museums who funded this project. We look forward to welcoming lots of young visitors to the museum this summer.”
Wacky, Weird, Eccentric and Ingenious Inventions will be at Annan Museum until 16 August. The Talking Toys activity and gallery activities are available throughout the season until the end of October. The museum is open Monday to Saturday 11am to 4pm and can be contacted by telephoning 01461 201384.
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