Discovery Museum (Newcastle)

...certainly the case with the Discovery Museum in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. We live around 16 miles from this fine museum, which I was astonished to find had first opened in 1995 - then undergoing a staggering £12.25 million overhaul in 2002 and reopening it's doors to us all again in February 2003 ... a year ago exactly. We had a week off work Brian and I, and were surfing the net looking for places of interest to visit. When this appeared in a search ...
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The Discovery Museum, Blandford Square, Newcastle - Upon - Tyne NE1 4JA (0191) 2326789

The website is brief and basic: www.twmuseums.org.uk

I have some pictures below for you to take a look at, there is also a map ... if you made it all the way through this lengthy op, I applaud you!, Shona

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*This is a fairly long review - you have been warned!*

Isn't it strange how you can live on the doorstep of something and be totally unaware of it's existence? This was certainly the case with the Discovery Museum in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. We live around 16 miles from this fine museum, which I was astonished to find had first opened in 1995 - then undergoing a staggering £12.25 million overhaul in 2002 and reopening it's doors to us all again in February 2003 ... a year ago exactly. We had a week off work Brian and I, and were surfing the net looking for places of interest to visit. When this appeared in a search we were curious and decided to pop along for a nose about. Let me tell you a little more ...

The museum itself is a grade 2 listed building, a Victorian warehouse in fact and is a magnificent piece of architecture in itself. The entrance is made obvious by a large blue door, with an archway above. Walk through the archway down a short path which is lit up with fluorescent lighting and you have arrived at the entrance. The huge glass doors slid aside to welcome us in and this is where we realised that the quaint Victorian outer shell had now been replaced in favour of a state of the art interior. It is completely free admission and to be honest I was expecting the exhibits to reflect this. How wrong was I, more details later! Inside was light airy and primarily open plan, the two buildings that this would originally have been have been forged together using steel - hence the steel construction which criss crosses just below the huge window panels. Straight away you notice how disability friendly this has been set out, with ramps, rails and heaps of space to enable wheelchair users to move freely around in all areas of the museum. As this building is set on 3 levels, I was pleased to see the lift which was centrally located and of modern user friendly design - with glass panels - and for the rest of us there's the wooden spiral stairs to climb.

The first exhibit is prominently displayed just ahead of the entrance - impossible to miss. The Turbinia, a ship built on the Tyne by a local man Charles Parsons back in 1894. Why so special then? Well, this was the first ship of it's kind. Turbinia was built to demonstrate the steam turbine's power and ability (hence it's name) she was capable of acheiving 34.5 knots - which is 40 mph and in 1897 grasped the title of fastest ship in the world! You aren't allowed to climb aboard - this is purely observational and she has been restored obviously, but she really is quite something. Walking around her, you can actually see through a glass panel into the mechanics some of which are "cut away" to reveal more detail. Once on the second floor you can level with the deck and also see into her control room. Simply fascinating. She is 30 metres in length. (see pics below)

To the right of Turbinia is the obligatory museum shop and information point, you will find this is an open plan format once up the shallow ramp. Usually I find these lack quality souvenirs and find some of it a bit cheap and tacky, but this is a very good shop indeed, you should spend a little time here. For the children, the usual pens, notepads, and various other stationery and books aimed at teaching the youngsters history in a fun and enjoyable manner. For us oldies, a chance to linger in a well stocked reference book section, drawing mainly from the North East. The postcard/greeting card section is particularly good and if you forgot - like we did to take the camera, ideal for bringing home a few souvenirs of what you have seen.

To the right of this shop is an opening - this is where the main part of the museum begins. Going through here, we found an unusual selection of exhibits all in their glass cases. Each case represented a different era, and contained memorabilia specific or typical of that time. For instance, the 80's era included archives on the miners strike of '84, pictures and commemorative items from the wedding of Lady Diana to Prince Charles, music singles of that time, even an old video recorder which was a huge betamax toploading affair. The cases are crammed with items and even concert and football tickets find their way in here - presumably to compare prices! Whilst browsing the era's there is music played suitable to that era just above you for added authenticity. The walls between era's are plastered with posters of forthcoming attractions of that time and I noticed quite a large area devoted to "the Animals" and an authentic letter from their road manager, telling a friend of their latest release in the charts. Once through this, you are led to a display of fashions through history - from the ornate bustle type dresses of the victorians up to present day. The clothing is authentic and not replicas, you can tell they've been through a bit of wear and tear. Most of the fashions are displayed on lifesize mannequins, but others are pinned up in the glass cases.

Moving along we see what it was like inside houses at different periods through history. I particularly enjoyed this section. For example we get to walk into some of these "living rooms" and see for ourselves in the 1940's section how bland - but homely it was typically furnished. From the wallpaper to the religious wall plates, and sturdy wooden clock atop the mantle ... and the gramophone. Some of these displays are in cases. We see one of them, a young woman who is sitting on her bed looking about her. It's the 60's and she has her dressing table at one end of the room. On top of this is her brush and mirror set and some glass dishes with her powder and perfume decanters. Her bed is made up with sheets - a long while before duvets came along .. and finished with a cumbersome over blanket.

There's a poor versus well-off section which is rather interesting. It compares clothing between the 2 classes and the standard of living at the time. For example what they would be having for Christmas dinner. The well-off's were having luncheon with the full trimmings - whilst the poor family will be having "beasts head" bought from the local market which will be boiled and made to last the week.

In the same vein, we look at how womens status has changed magnificently through the era's. Obtaining the right to vote, obviously being the major change. It is also brings into perspective just how easy we have got it today. Okay, so we can work if we choose, but these women who stayed back home to do the cleaning really put some elbow grease in - compared to the modern day woman. It had a list of all the daily duties that needed performing. Mending clothing, beating carpets, washing using a mangle, hanging out washing, sweeping carpets, scrubbing floors, and then there's the dinner to make from scratch - no prepared meals those days.
Included in this section we get to see early washing machines, cookers, irons and hoovers. It really is an insight.

"A Soldier's Life" is another section and focuses on the Kings Royal Hussars and the Northumberland Hussars. Although this wasn't a favourite of mine it was still interesting. Uniforms from cavalry to foot soldiers are included in these displays and one item in particular drew my attention although small. It was a piece of branch brought back from the trenches by a soldier as a present to his mother - a bullet had embedded itself inside and was sticking out. The children may like to try taking the Corporal's orders. There is a set of 3 footprint and as you place your feet on these it activated the commands which you need to follow. Be quick - or he shouts! They can also use the Morse code machine using the alphabetical dots and dashes guide next to it to try spelling out their name. There is also a rocking horse that sits in front of a mirror - apparently this is how cavalry were trained to take lunges with their sword at others whilst on horseback. Your children can also try this - minus the sword!

By far the most intriguing section was the "Science Maze" and this is where we spent the longest time taking in all sorts. Far too much here for me to include or even touch on in any sort of detail but I will tell you about a handful of them ...

Hands up those of you who recall the Sinclair C5? An invention back in 1985 by Sir Clive Sinclair an inventor who brought to us Sinclair home computers amongst other inventions and who dabbled in transport briefly. It was a battery powered "car/kart" and was suitable for anyone of 14 yrs and over who paid the £399 price tag. No driving licence, insurance, helmet or indeed road tax was necessary to use one. There were only a thousand of them produced in total, and were a commercial flop. They had a polypropolene body shell and were a three wheeler by all accounts. Steered using a handlebar and started with foot pedals they were capable of 15 mph tops. I was 13 at the time and remember thinking how modern these were ... (see pic below)

There is a dark area - I actually thought it was a forthcoming attraction that had been sectioned off from the public! We can't actually remember it's correct name - but it was something in the vein of "the shadow caster". After a bit of fumbling around in the dark (?) you will find a switch which once pressed, will start a countdown in seconds till a picture is taken. Scurry backwards to the wall behind you and strike a pose. The snapshot taken, move away and take a look at your shadow which is still showing on the wall! We loved this, and wasted a lot of time larking about making ridiculous or suggestive shaped shadows which will overlap if taken within a short time of each other. Some sort of paint in the background obviously makes this imagery possible. Huge fun!

Your children will love the interaction that a lot of the pieces offer. For example to demonstrate how sound moves, there are heaps of hoses hanging with quite a distance between them and these travel overhead in a maze. Tell a friend to take one and you the other and while they whisper down the tube - you can hear it at your end clear as a bell. Sounds remarkably obvious, but fascinating nonetheless. Another thing to try are the air hoses. There are 3 hoses, each blasting air from them. Pick up a hose and then take one of the balls from the table, you will then notice a couple of metal hoops - see how difficult it is to guide the balls through the hoops by guiding them through with the air through the hose! (see pic below - taken from brochure)

Cased items are just as interesting - with those early mobile phones back in the early 70's - the size of small tape recorder! Before the 80's yuppies used ones the size of a brick. Oh! there was a dolls house that had working replicas of all our modern day electrical gadgets. You had to press a switch to activate each of these in different parts of the house. From this it calculated how many watts per hour the item uses and the cost taken over a year for useage. For instance a hairdryer will use 8 pence per hour and so on.

We were unable to wander into the computer section, as a group of schoolchildren were occupying the room on a trip - but this is a free to use internet access area. Amongst, of course little gems of information on Bill Gates and how it all started, first computers and so on.

There is of course a cafe, which is found on the second floor. It's extremely well laid out with plenty of room for wheelchairs, you have the choice of sitting at the tables just outside looking down onto Turbinia or inside as we chose. There is not a wide selection of hot dishes available on the board, the reason for this is that meals are prepared freshly - not from scratch but not served from those metal dishes that some restaurants have on the counters. I chose a warm chicken salad with wedges, which on arrival was a whole chicken breast laid atop a chopped salad and was accompanied by 4 huge scallops of potato and some toast - all for £4.50 which I was more than happy with. The usual range of muffins, homemade cakes and just about every kind of coffee or tea that takes your fancy is available here as well as plenty of fresh juices and pop. The dining area has plenty of seating and we were able to see into the museum from here due to the large windows. I found this very modern but comfortable.

The toilets are excellent too, the doors open automatically on your approach. Once inside there are about 8 -10 cubicles (can't remember exactly) and these are immaculate. No need to press the button to flush - just wave your hand in front of the button and it will automatically flush. Taps are also automated and there was plenty of proper tablet soap too.

There is a designated baby changing area and also toilets for the disabled.

It is worth noting there are facilites available for the deaf/blind and partially sighted and guide dogs are welcome. Assistance can also be given to the disabled.

If you do happen to be in the area of Newcastle Upon Tyne, I highly recommend you visit this free museum (funded through lottery awards and grants) and you will get a lot out of it. We visited mid week so there was only a handful of people about.

Opening hours Monday - Saturday 10 am - 5pm & Sunday 2 - 5pm

The Discovery Museum, Blandford Square, Newcastle - Upon - Tyne NE1 4JA (0191) 2326789

The website is brief and basic: www.twmuseums.org.uk

I have some pictures below for you to take a look at, there is also a map ... if you made it all the way through this lengthy op, I applaud you!, Shona

 

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