National Museums Liverpool Blog - museum of liverpool

Come and have some creative messy fun

Every Tuesday morning during term time we have been running sessions called ‘Tiny Liverpool' in our Little Liverpool gallery. These sessions are especially for 0-3 year olds and their parents, grandparents or child minders. At the end of each term these sessions conclude with an extra special session called ‘Messy Tots’ which takes place in one of our education spaces.

Messy Tots is extra fun as we are able to get out Play-Doh, chalks, paint pens and colouring in materials. As well as having a large space to enjoy the craft sessions children can play with our lovely toys, dress up, build towers with our blocks and, when in need of a break, our giant bean bags are on hand to provide a comfortable place to curl up for a story!

The end of another term approaches and the Museum of Liverpool is getting into the Christmas spirit with workshops, talks and reminiscence sessions, all themed around the season. As Tiny Liverpool prepares to take a break until 2013 we will finish in true Messy Tots style on Tuesday 18 December with a Christmas party, from 10am until 12noon.

This event is suitable for all 0-3 year olds. If you would like to book please contact Hannah Gilbert on 0151 478 4329. We hope to see you there for some festive fun.  

Earlier this year, the Museum of Liverpool launched the House of Memories dementia awareness training – an innovative programme which assists social carers to help people to live well with dementia.

"Why would a museum be delivering training to carers in the health sector?", you may wonder. Well the answer is quite simple. Museums may not be clinical experts in dementia but they are quite literally ‘houses of memories’, where precious objects and stories from the past are collected, and where people come to enjoy and revisit collective memories. The museum has developed new activities such as memory boxes and memory walks, which can really make a difference to someone living with dementia, alongside their families and carers. 

The response to the House of Memories training has been phenomenal. More than 1800 carers and other support workers have attended so far, but the scale of interest is not surprising. Dementia has been referred to by the Prime Minister as a ‘national crisis’, with one third of people over the age of 65 to die with the condition and over 800,000 cases in the UK today.

Carol Rogers is greeted by the Prime Minister

To tackle the crisis, the Prime Minister launched his challenge on dementia, tasking champion groups to lead the fight against this catastrophic disease. Seven months on, the champions have launched a progress report detailing some of the excellent work being done across the nation. We are delighted that House of Memories which was supported by the Department of Health, has been included in that paper (page 8).

Our Director of Education, Visitors and Communities, Carol Rogers (pictured) was invited to attend the launch of the report, which coincided with Alzheimer’s Society’s announcement of the Dementia Friends scheme, which is being backed by Number 10.

You can see the House of Memories in action here. The programme is set to run until 2015 and the museum team is looking forward to welcoming many more participants.

If you have been affected by dementia or are supporting someone living with dementia, there are some excellent organisations that can help advise you, including the Alzheimer’s Society and Dementia UK. 

Press Office Volunteer Louise Beard writes:

Next Thursday will be the 11th anniversary of Liverpool legend, George Harrison, passing away. To mark this event Concert for George will be shown in the new theatre at the Museum of Liverpool. The screening is particularly special because it’s the first event to take place in the theatre; the fact that the first event is a concert dedicated to one of Liverpool’s best loved musicians has lovely symmetry with the Museum of Liverpool’s commitment to reflecting the city’s global significance. 

Photo taken by Richard Young © Oops Publishing Limited

All proceeds from tickets will go to George’s charity, Material World Charitable Foundation. Rather that supporting one cause in particular, the MWC was set up to encourage various forms of artistic impression and philosophies as well as other established charities. Two local causes that have benefited from George’s charity are the Alder Hey Rocking Horse appeal and LIPA.

The concert played host to a number of notables including, of course, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as well as Eric Clapton and Tom Petty. Monty Python also celebrate, in Michael Palin’s words, ‘the superhuman specialness’ of the evening with their performance of ‘Sit on My Face’ and the ‘Lumberjack Song’. The opportunity to relive this ‘superhuman special’ concert seems a, well, special opportunity.

Tickets for this one-off event cost £20 and are available from the Museum of Liverpool shop and by phone on 0151 478 4083. On the night, ticket holders will also receive an original (in short supply) souvenir Concert for George t-shirt.

A film crew from the show travelled around the country to determine how hospitable certain cities were. They would knock on stranger’s doors and ask if they could stay the night! Liverpool, of course, was one of the few cities to receive the gold award. The programme showed some great Liverpool characters and proved what a friendly and hospitable city we are.

It was painted by Liverpool born artist, and well-known local character, Yankel Feather (1920-2009).

The painting, which is not currently on display, shows the interior of a men’s public convenience in Williamson Square, which was known locally as ‘The Wheel of Fortune’. It reflects the time, prior to 1967, when homosexuality was illegal.

The painting is part of our ever growing collection of LGBT related material.

The Wheel of Fortune is one of the places featured in the Mapping Memory interactive map on the Maritime Museum website.

A display of traditional artefacts at World Museum's Meet Your Muslim Neighbour Day. Photo courtesy of Usama Munir, MYMN

Meet Your Muslim Neighbours (MYMN) is an established group of volunteers, adult and children of Muslim faith. They run this initiative to help break down barriers and build bridges for all communities.

World Museum’s inaugural Meet Your Muslim Neighbour event in June 2012 attracted almost 700 visitors. Brimming with family friendly activity, the day included henna hand painting, Arabic art writing, samosa tasting and a show-and-tell on cultural artefacts and objects.

Following the success of Meet Your Muslim Neighbour Day at World Museum, there are now plans to roll out the same event across all National Museums Liverpool’s venues, starting with Museum of Liverpool tomorrow (Saturday 20 October). Drop in any time 11am-4pm - see the website for further details.

Liverpool - the story of a city

If you've enjoyed your visit to the Museum of Liverpool (and who hasn't?) or can't make it to the Museum, then our latest book is worth a look.

Liverpool - the story of a city gives a whistle stop tour of the Museum's galleries (essentially a potted history of Liverpool), starting with the departure of the ice at the end of the last Ice Age, running through to the recent report on Hillsborough.

It celebrates the city and the millions who have inspired, thrived, created, fought, worked and lived here. It covers the Liverpool usuals (The Beatles, football, Grand National, slavery, the docks etc) plus many topics you may not immediately associate wth the city like the American Civil War, the world's first passenger railway and the humble cup of tea. There's lots of photos which make for a pleasant wander down memory lane for locals, and for visitors an introduction to the city Carl Jung described as 'the pool of life'.

You can purchase the book at the Museum itself or through our online shop. And at £9.99 it'll make a thoughtful yet affordable Christmas present.

National Museums Liverpool have a bumper programme of events for Black History Month. Our volunteer, Louise Beard, has picked out some highlights:

Poet Levi Tafari is holding workshops at Museum of Liverpool

Since 1987 October has been dedicated to highlighting Black history. For America, Black History Month began 61 years earlier in 1926. It might seem more relevant for a country whose history is steeped with well-known and influential Black figures. However, BHM in the UK also aims to emphasise the significance of Black people in British history; such as Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole who independently founded the British Hotel to nurse soldiers back to health during the Crimean war.

With the oldest black community in Europe, Liverpool has a major place in the UK’s Black history. National Museums Liverpool are hosting a number of different events which are aimed to inform and complement BHM. 

A few that have caught my eye in particular are: the Black Community Trail at the Museum of Liverpool which highlights the contribution of Black people to Liverpool’s chequered history (daily from 15/10/12, 10-4pm). Also there is an exciting opportunity for young writers to meet Levi Tafari, who'll be helping visitors pen their own poems (23/10/12, 11-4pm).

At the International Slavery Museum there’s an alternative to the weekly body combat class with Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art (every Saturday, 10-12pm). Literary tastes are also accommodated with an exploration of Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ which looks colonialism (11/09/12, 10-12pm).

Naturally, amidst these events there are plentiful chances for children to craft masks, drums, tiles and quilts galore.

To find out more about the events taking place at National Museums Liverpool click here.

April Ashley was at the Museum of Liverpool on Friday to launch a new project by Homotopia Liverpool

On Friday, we hosted a very special event, marking the beginning of an exciting project that will culminate in an exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool.

The event led by Homotopia Liverpool, took place to announce the ground-breaking project that will tell the story of the life of Miss April Ashley, utilising her unique collection of photographs, letters and personal documents supplemented with archive materials from Liverpool records Office, National Museums Liverpool and other sources.

April attended the event herself, and took part in a Q&A session with BBC Radio Merseyside’s Roger Philips, which inspired everyone who came along to hear about the project and April’s life.

The April Ashley Heritage Project will demonstrate the significant role April has played in making social and political history in Britain form 1935 to 2012. In detailing her life, the project will tell the wider story of social, political and legislative change affecting Trans, LGB and many other people in Britain over the past 70 years, and of the impact April’s story has had on family law and legal definitions of gender and identity.

Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project will culminate in autumn 2013, with an exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool forming a key part of Homotopia’s 10th anniversary.

Homotopia Liverpool is currently looking for participants and volunteers to help deliver the April Ashley Heritage Project. You can help by telling your story, taking part in one of the reminiscence workshops, recording your own oral history, or just lending a hand as a volunteer. Contact bev@homotopia.net for further information.

Our work placement student Jacob Cook tells us why the transport collection at NML is so important:

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Yesterday I was given the rare opportunity to visit the museum store and I got to see just how many valuable artefacts the museums in Liverpool have in their collections. It’s a shame they don’t have the space to display them all.

We were told that not many people are allowed into the storage facility so I instantly felt privileged. Even though some of the things I saw (century old vehicles) weren’t exactly exciting, they told their own story about my home city and gave an insight into how my family would have lived only a few generations before me.

From fire trucks to taxis, boats to wheelbarrows, it was like seeing the natural progression of travel all in the same place.

There is no denying that this stuff matters. People work hard to preserve these objects so that future generations can learn about their past (not just from a book). I think that this is the ultimate example of pride to be from Liverpool.