Related Notes:
The Etches Collection
There is a small museum in Kimmeridge, that houses a collection of fossils found by Steve Etches.
On display are numerous scientifically important specimens, including the skull of a (yet to be described) pliosaur. The skull was impressive but I was fascinated by all the fossilised sea creatures found in the area. I was excited when I saw the fossilised eggs of an ammonite, and a well preserved ray! There was a lot to look at for a small space but in their lecture hall they had an Allosaurus named Sara on display which was impressive!
This is much more than a museum visit - earlier this month I started volunteering at a local natural history museum! I volunteer on Sundays to help out with their fossil club for children ages 5-14, and I've enjoyed it so far.
I spent a couple of hours in the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was really interesting! In the 1600s, the world's graphite mining and production was controlled by the English crown as the graphite was used to create superior cannon balls for the English Navy, and as such, graphite became more valuable than gold. Graphite smuggling ended up coining the phrase "black market".
During the second world war, a man called Charles Fraser-Smith (who worked for MI5) invented a pencil that housed secret rolled up maps where the core would sit, and the tiniest compass in the world that was screwed in between the pencil and the eraser. They were meant for RAF pilots so they could escape behind enemy lines. This man inspired the character Q in the James Bond stories.
It wasn't a huge museum, but it was fascinating! Who knew there was so much to learn about pencils!!!
Yorkshire Natural History Museum
We visited a tiny fossil museum that opened up locally. It's run by some knowledgeable volunteers and they gave us a tour of the fossils under blacklight, which was fascinating!
Bridlington's Harbour Heritage Museum
This tiny museum is packed full of artifacts, photos, newspaper cuttings, all related to the town's fishing industry. The staff were knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the history of the harbourtown too which was lovely to see. It was very interesting!
This was our valentine's date!
The National Space Museum was holding a valentine's event, where you got a three course meal and were seated in the museum itself! Our table was in the Solar System, and the food was (I'm sorry I can't help myself) out of this world. I've never eaten such a delicious piece of lamb.
Once we'd eaten, we got to wander around some of the galleries on the ground floor, and got to "smell" the universe in an experiment. Did you know that Jupiter most likely smells like almonds? Apparently the chemical make up of the planet overall is similar to that of almonds. Who knew?
At 10pm we were called to the Planetarium to have a tour of our night sky, then we were free to explore again.
I'm so glad we booked this event. It was just wonderful.
At the weekend, we went to the National Videogames Museum in Sheffield. It was fun playing video games all day! This museum didn't just have exhibits on display, most of the exhibits we're playable. They had everything from original upright arcade machines all the way through to new PC games.
The venue wasn't massive, but it has potential to grow.
They also had a huge display for Donkey Kong - a screen each for every platform it's ever been ported to since the original arcade game!
Fun!
Today we went round the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum and it wasn't what I was expecting.
From the outside it looked unassuming, but inside it was packed full of different aircrafts, mostly military, but there were some interesting civilian ones too. Some of the aircrafts are in various stages of restoration too, which is work done by volunteers who clearly love what they do.
There was a display about the Falklands war and as it was the 35th anniversary since the conflict ended, and I have to say I was pretty ignorant of the details until today, even though my uncle was assigned there all that time ago.
Since we're still in that weird time between Christmas and New Year, and I'm still off work, we thought we'd get out of the house and do something, and other than two other families, we had the place to ourselves nearly! I recommend visiting a museum at this time of year - it was so quiet!
