Christmas at Thackray Museum of Medicine Leeds

National World - LocalTV

We take a look at what visitors can expect at the Thackray Museum of Medicine this festive season.

Transcript

00:00 I'm Edward Appleyard, I'm Chief Executive here at the Thackray Museum of Medicine.

00:03 We've got a lovely festive season to look forward to here at the Thackray

00:07 Museum of Medicine which includes of course the bumper school holidays with

00:10 Christmas being so close to the start of school holidays this year, you get two full

00:13 weeks of Christmas period immediately following. We are following cultures

00:18 around the world this year as part of our Christmas experience which is linked

00:21 very closely with different cultures of food and children and adults alike will

00:26 be able to enjoy a lovely 90-minute festive experience, enjoying a trail

00:31 around the museum, getting a photo opportunity in our stunning sleigh and

00:35 following trails and then obviously a great opportunity to meet Father

00:39 Christmas himself and discover his favourite foods from around the world too.

00:45 Of course museums are meant to be fun places to be and part of a fun

00:53 experience obviously introducing all these different ideas from around the

00:56 world but part of our responsibility is unlocking stories about different

01:00 cultures, about societies right here in Leeds and different cultures right in

01:03 Leeds. I mean right next door in Hare Hills we have one of the most diverse

01:07 populations in this wonderful city and it's absolutely brilliant to be sharing

01:11 some of those stories from people that live right on our doorstep that affect

01:15 us around the globe. The Thackray has been known since its

01:18 inception for its rather gruesome Victorian street, you know everything

01:21 from the butchers to the dunny and the water pump that shouldn't be there and

01:25 everything in between. So I mean it wouldn't be the Thackray Museum if there

01:29 wasn't a bit of gore including a rat trail to follow but we've just made them

01:33 a bit festive in our Victorian streets but actually we've added a hint of a

01:37 Victorian Christmas of course as well so expect candles and pigeons you know nice

01:44 decoration too and Christmas has been enjoyed for centuries. Of course it was

01:48 Prince Albert in the Victorian era that really made the Christmas tree popular

01:52 and of course we've got Christmas trees across the museum too but our

01:55 Victorian Street itself doesn't feature any they wouldn't have been around then.

01:58 Now our apothecary is a magical space all year round we've got an absolutely

02:03 beautiful collection of old apothecary pots that go around at least 400 years

02:08 old and it's so huge when you look at it it's a lot to take in. Of course we're

02:13 giving that the festive treatment too and Father Christmas himself will be

02:16 sat amongst those apothecary jars when he discovers his Christmas journey.

02:21 Father Christmas is with us every weekend right up until the 23rd of

02:24 December obviously he's got an awful lot of work to fit into a very short amount

02:28 of time from then on however after Christmas itself we're open again.

02:34 Christmas here at the Thackray is really meant for everybody and as such this

02:38 year we're really delighted to be holding BSL Father Christmas sessions as

02:42 well as relaxed opening sessions for our Christmas experience too so if you've

02:46 not had the opportunity to experience the museum in that way before we'd

02:49 really welcome you this year and also look out for our lovely shop we've got

02:54 craft activities we've got some amazing food in the cafe too to really make it a

02:59 wonderful festive time.

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