Showing posts with label Museums at Night. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Museums at Night. Show all posts

Saturday, 20 October 2018

A Pie And A Pint And Museums At Night


We just wanted to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Higgidy Pies and Bedlam Brewery for the generous donations they’re making for our Museums at Night event, Two Halves of Guinness.

The idea for a pie, a pint and a performance came from Trevor Littledale, the star of the show (and our founder Chris’ brother) and since we all at the museum love to watch a show with a pie and a pint in our hands, we thought this was fab!

A Life Examined


The show centres on the well beloved actor Sir Alec Guinness’ introspection at the time of the release of Star Wars. Sir Alec himself was in no way fond of the movie, and worried that it would be his lasting swansong. He dreaded being remembered for a part he had no liking for. He’d had a career which had lasted several decades, and included roles such as the entire D'Ascoyne family in Kind Hearts and Coronets, the eponymous Man in the White Suit and Colonel Nicholson in Bridge on the River Kwai, the role for which he won his first Academy Award. 

Being immortalised as a mystic who spouted “florid, breathless and embarrassing” lines was something that made him “shrivel up a little.”

Guinness had converted to Catholicism in 1956 and tended to consider the role of a Jedi mystic something of a fraud. He said in an interview with Talk magazine while promoting his autobiography ‘A Positively Final Appearance’ that it was his idea to kill off Ben because: "I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo."

The show Two Halves of Guinness is Brighton Toy and Model Museum’s Museums at Night event. In the past we’ve had great fun with Museums at Night. It’s an opportunity for museums to do something a little out of the ordinary to appeal to people who might not necessarily be interested in museums and galleries to come along and get involved. One year your correspondent bought up all the Barbies and Sindys he could find in every charity shop so that we could make dresses, give them makeovers and make them a little more relatable.

It’s important that we thank our sponsors too. What would a pie, a pint and a performance be without a pie and a pint?


Higgidy Pies are a local pie company who make a variety of delicious pies and pastries, and they’ve given us enough pies (both veggie and meaty) to sustain the hungriest of audience member for the evening. (check out their website, they’re not stingy with their recipes for all kinds of pies, pastries and confectionary either!)

Likewise, Bedlam Brewery, again a local company making fine bitters,ales, and lagers who’re helping us out by letting us have crates of the stuff to share with our visitors on the night.

We really are grateful, as it’s contributions like these that let us do things that would otherwise be outside our scope thanks to expense and inconvenience. You guys are great and we’re looking forward to putting on many more events with your help.

To book your ticket, please follow this eventbrite link


Tuesday, 10 June 2014

Still Lost in The Toy Museum - A Museums at Night event for Culture24

Something very strange occurred at the Toy Museum on the 17th of May,  something very strange indeed. Something that involved lost toys and people dressed in funny costumes.  This event was "Still Lost in the Toy Museum". An event that gave children (and grown-ups too) an evening of fun, games and creative projects. The event was presided over by the museum’s volunteers who had just as much fun as the children and parents who came.

(Waiting for the children to arrive)
Cakes were eaten, treasure hunts completed and tales told, in general, a wonderful time was had by all.

(Here, have a close up of some cake)
 The highlight of the evening was a story reading, by our resident actor/storyteller, Marc Sinclair.

(Here he is looking awesome in a rainbow waistcoat)
Marc did several readings throughout the evening, which had us all in stitches as he did different funny voices for each character.
(The parents are trying to squeeze themselves into our puppet theatre)
There were also plenty of arts and crafts activities for the children to have fun with, these ranged from puppets to glove rabbits and proved very popular with children and grown-ups alike.
(We’re all having lots of fun.)
Some of our volunteers got jealous and decided that they wanted to play with all of the toys as well.
(I’m a kid honest!)
Toys were hidden throughout the museum for the children to find.
(Shush, be very, very quiet, I’m hiding from the children.)
 Even Buddy the Museum Bear wanted to get in on the action.
(This looks like fun)
At the end of the evening everyone one was very tired and happy, we all agreed the event had been a big success.

Friday, 16 May 2014

Introducing Lost in the Toy Museum 2014


Here at the Brighton Toy and Model Museum we are getting very excited for tomorrow night - 17th May - as we have another exciting instalment of Museums at Night ready for you.
Hiding In The Museum

Where's He Run Off To?



These past few weeks have been all about preparing the Museum for everyone who's coming to join us, and today we're letting you have a special look at what's been going on behind the scenes, including a sneak peek at our Celestial Story Teller during a dress rehearsal. 

Marc Sinclair - Celestial Story Teller
Ready For The Main Event

We have a range of activities planned for you to enjoy here as well as a reading from Marc, and those include art activities, Meccano, wooden train sets, meet our mascot Buddy Bear, and refreshments for everyone. 
Make Your Own - Only £5


 We hope to see everyone here tomorrow night, and we're looking forward to more Museums at Night adventures in the future. 

Friday, 2 May 2014

Lost In The Toy Museum - Museums At Night - 17th May 2014


This nationwide event ties in with the European campaign "La Nuit Des Musée", which is in correspondence with International Museums Day, which falls on the 18th of May.

This year we will be holding our Museums At Night event on Saturday 17th of May, and it's official title is "Lost in The Toy Museum".  On this day, instead of bringing the family down at 10am, we have a special opening and closing time for this event, which will begin at 4:30pm, and finish at approximately 7:30pm. 

We will be joined by Marc Sinclair who will be doing a reading from the book Lost in the Toy Museum, and afterwards we need to help each other find the toys that have left their usual posts, and are hiding around the museum. 

As well as a fun teddy hunt, we will also have wooden train sets and child friendly Meccano for everyone to play with, as well as art play, which includes making a puppet, and many other activities to keep young minds active. 

Our mascot, Buddy Bear, will also be here all evening to meet everyone.

Buddy Bear

The age group most suited to this event is 3 - 10 years old, but we are not restricting admission to this age group. Admission prices are as normal, adults entry is £4.50, children aged 4 - 14 entry is £3.50, under 3's entry is £1.50, and babes in arms have free admission. 
Entry to this event will not restrict your access to any part of the museum, and you are welcome to look around while your children are listening to stories, and you're also very welcome to join them. 


So tell your friends and family about the fun evening we have planned, and we hope to see you soon. 

Saturday, 27 April 2013

Frank Hornby Week at the Museum

The museum is celebrating the week surrounding 15th May (Frank Hornby's 150th anniversary) as Frank Hornby Week.

  • Kicking off the week, we have a Hornby-themed Train Running Day on Saturday 11th to get things moving. 
  • Wednesday 15th is Frank Hornby's birthday, and the evening will be a special invite-only party and cake-cutting ceremony. 
  • Friday 17th is a special "Museums at Night" evening with a talk and tour by the Museum Founder Chris Littledale, and, 
  • Sunday 19th will be a special Children's Play Day, where youngsters can indulge in supervised colouring-in and painting, and can also play with wooden train and road sets and with plastic Meccano.

On top of all of this, from Tuesday to Saturday we'll be running two guided tours of the museum's Hornby, Dinky and Meccano collections each day, in the context of the life of Frank Hornby.

You can download the programme of events , and get more information about the Frank Hornby 150th Anniversary project and associated events around the country on the project website.

The Museum's Frank Hornby Week celebrations are being made possible by the generosity of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Friday, 14 May 2010

"Train running" evening

As part of the 'Museums at Night' initiative, the Museum held a special May Train Running event.
Everyone enjoyed a magical evening of trains, toys and fun in the newly renovated Museum!
Museums at Night logo
Visitors were able to see the many improvements and changes that we've been working so hard on over the last several months and special trains were running on our large layouts.

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