In The News!

If you're a regular reader of our blog or you've been to visit the toy museum recently you'll no doubt be aware that we've got a campaign going to collect memories of toys and childhood from people all over the Brighton and Hove area. The campaign is due to come to fruition next year, in order to coincide with 25 years of being open to visitors. Our idea is to gather thoughts and memories of people who are currently living in the area, who may have come from anywhere in the world, to share with other people. The memories will be put together and used to create a traveling exhibit, a book and new website which will be a permanent resource for people who are interested in toys, models and childhood generally.

As part of our activities to promote the project we've been approaching people in all sorts of places to get interested and promote the open evening we're having on Wednesday 9th of July from 5:30 to 7:30 where people can come along, have a look around the museum for free and sign up to be interviewed about their memories of their own toys which they used to play with. As well as getting a few pieces in local newspapers and magazines Andrea, our project manager for the Toys In The Community, Valuing Memories of dolls, teddy bears and construction toys initiative has been interviewed on the local BBC and Juice 107.2 radio stations. You can read about the interview Andrea gave to Juice here, unfortunately they don't appear to have a way of listening to the piece after broadcast but if you want to listen to Andrea waxing lyrical (although early in the morning, we admire her commitment!) then you can find the show by clicking on Neil Pringle's face.
So remember, if you're able to come along on the open evening, then please do, and if you're not able to come down but you're interested in contributing a memory, please do let us know by calling on 01273 749494 or email us at memories@brightontoymuseum.co.uk so we can arrange a time that's convenient for you to come to us or we could even come to you. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

Time To Stop Playing Around And Start Talking Toys

Brighton Toy and Model Museum is looking for people of all ages to participate in an oral history project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, to speak about their memories of their childhoods and the toys they played with, of all types from the past up until today.
No matter what your background, whether you had a great collection of toys or just one favourite from which you could never be parted, they want to hear from you.

Brighton Toy and Model Museum opened underneath Brighton Train Station in in 1991. In order to celebrate its 25th anniversary in two years' time, museum staff are gathering memories from people from all walks of life to contribute to this heritage project. The Heritage Lottery Fund granted the museum funding for this venture which will result in a community based outreach project, a website, book and a touring exhibition, all of which will be completed in 2016.

The open evening will be held as a drop-in event on Wednesday, 9th of July 2014 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the museum, where you can go and meet other people involved in the project. Interviews won't be carried out at the event but staff will arrange a convenient time for you to come and be interviewed about your memories.

Light refreshments will be provided and the museum will be free to look around for the duration of the recruitment event. If you are unable to make it to the open evening but are interested in contributing your memories just email memories@brightontoymuseum.co.uk or phone 01273 749 494.

Brighton Toy and Model Museum wins Heritage Lottery Fund support

Brighton Toy and Model Museum wins Heritage Lottery Fund support

Brighton Toy and Model Museum has received £57,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an exciting project, "Toys in the Community: Valuing Memories of dolls, teddy bears and construction toys".  Involving volunteers from the local community, the 2 year project will collect memories from a range of people and use these to create a website, book and touring exhibition which will visit local venues. It will also run community outreach sessions to enable people to share their memories of toys and handle examples of dolls, teddy bears and construction toys from a range of time periods.

Volunteers involved in the project will be able to learn new skills, including interviewing, photographic and videoing skills. They will also help to curate the touring exhibition.

By interviewing people of all ages and backgrounds, the project will help to create links between different members of the local community through the sharing of memories.

Commenting on the award, Museum Manager Tig Savage said: “We are delighted to have this financial support from HLF. We are looking forward to making our collections more accessible to people who may be unable to visit us due to physical, financial or social reasons and to listening to our contributors’ valued memories. It is my sincere hope that this will forge much stronger links between the Brighton Toy and Model Museum and our community in Brighton and Hove.”

Stuart McLeod, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund South East England, said: “Toys from years past stir memories of childhood and community. This project will capture these and in so doing add a new dimension to its fascinating collection.”

Anyone in the Brighton and Hove area who is interested in being involved in the project, either as a volunteer or by being interviewed, is invited to the museum on Wednesday 9^th July between 5.30 and 7.30pm, or is welcome to contact the museum on 01273 749494 or by emailing memories@brightontoymuseum.co.uk

About Brighton Toy and Model Museum

 Brighton Toy and Model Museum is a treasure trove of toys and models that extends over four thousand square feet of floor space, through four of the Early Victorian arches supporting Brighton Railway Station's forecourt. Founded in 1991, it has over ten thousand toys and models in its catalogue, focusing on the first half of the twentieth century, and including rare vintage model train collections and many period antique toys. Its display area includes two large operational model railway layouts (in 00-gauge and gauge 0), and displays of period pieces from a range of classic early manufacturers that includes Bing, Dinky, Hornby, Marklin, Meccano, Pelham Puppets, and Steiff. The museum also includes individually-engineered pieces such as the working quarter-scale traction engine and the Spitfire fighter planes in the lobby, and a range of other working scale models throughout the museum.

The museum's exhibits and displays undergo constant review and change, the museum itself has recently undergone an extensive world class, innovative lighting refit, with LED lamps now allowing much brighter illumination throughout the museum while still protecting the more sensitive dyes and paints of some of the older items.

The museum, a registered charity, is supported by the collections’ trust – the trustees are made up of a handful of dedicated collectors such as Anthony Capo Bianco, Hugo Marsh (SAS) and Barry Potter. Without their support, such review and change would be very difficult.

A lottery grant in 2012 afforded a year-long celebration and exhibition of the work of Frank Hornby and the museum is about to embark on the next lottery project, reaching into their community for memories, in the form of the Toys in the Community, oral history project.

Entrance to the first of four arches (which also houses the museum shop and Tourist Information Point) is free, and the museum's handy location beneath Brighton Station makes it a great stopping-off point for visitors to Brighton to pick up maps and tourist information before seeing the rest of the city.

About the Heritage Lottery Fund

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported over 36,000 projects with more than £6bn across the UK.  www.hlf.org.uk.

 

Frank Hornby 150th Anniversary

The Frank Hornby 150th Anniversary logo, in dark red.

2013 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of British toymaking pioneer Frank Hornby.

Hornby didn't just invent Hornby Trains: he also invented Dinky Toys, and he got his start when he invented Meccano, originally as a way of making it easier to make toys for his own children out of strips of cut-up biscuit tins.

Hornby patented the idea behind his modular metal construction kit in 1901, and the system evolved to become "Mechanics Made Easy", an educational system for teaching engineering principles to children, before being given the more catchy name of "Meccano".

Meccano Ltd. grew to become an international company with headquarters at Binns Road, Liverpool, and Hornby became a millionaire and a Member of Parliament.

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The Museum has just been awarded a grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund to help it to celebrate 2013 as Frank Hornby Year. The grant will pay for a full-time Project Officer for a year to rewrite and dramatically expand our online resources for Meccano, Dinky Toys and Hornby Trains, and to set up a project website at FrankHornby150.org to hold a directory of participating groups and organisations, and a calendar of their 2013 events. We'll also be holding events focussing on Frank Hornby Week (13th-19th May 2013), launching the programme at the 2013 ModelWorld exhibition in February, and doing some other Very Cool Stuff including some very exciting things on the Museum floor with new technology to allow visitors to access information from the Museum floor. 

As well as its Meccano exhibits, the Museum has what we believe to be the best collection of early Hornby Trains on public display anywhere in the World (in Arch Four), and this grant will let us finally install information systems that can do these collections justice. We're also hoping to bring in some new guest exhibits for 2013 to mark the anniversary.

More information to follow as these exciting developments unfold ...