Brighton Science Festival Was Incredibly Moving!

This week was Brighton Science Festival, an event intended to get children and young people interested in all fields of the sciences. There were different things going on throughout Brighton and Hove and beyond where kids could get involved in making a range of different toys and devices using scientific principles, and maybe developing new skills and areas of personal interest too.

There were events not only in museums and libraries, but in theatres, bars, arches and meeting spaces all over town. There were workshops making Rube Goldberg machines, studying astronomy, STEM masterclasses, coding, and robotics to name but a tiny few. We at Brighton Toy and Model Museum decided to make and race balloon cars made of odds and ends that would otherwise be destined for the recycling bin on Monday and to make moving pictures on Friday.

The Race Is On!

The balloon cars were made to demonstrate the storage of energy; blowing up the balloons turns chemical energy made in the body from our food, into potential energy stored in the rubber of the balloon which, when released, produces forward motion thanks to Newton’s Third law.

Our engineers tried several different designs. They tried different chassis alignments, one, two, even three balloons attached to the same car, different sizes of balloons and raced against one another in several heats to determine which was the best. As you can see from the pictures, we had quite a full house and many races had to be run. In fact, we had so many enquiries we could have had three times as many competitors if we’d only had the room, so next year we plan on running events in the morning AND afternoon so that everyone gets to have a go.

Who Wants To Be In The Movies?

Every bit as much fun was the moving pictures project. We made a variety of different devices which created the optical illusion of motion. Firstly, and most simply we made thaumatropes. These are disks of card with picture on either side. Spin the disk and the two images appear as one. Once we’d cracked that, it was on to making phenakistascopes. Several pictures are drawn in sequence on a circle of card, and when you look at the spinning disk through pre-cut slots in a mirror the pictures appear to be moving.

Taking this a step further, and again using the persistence of vision we made zoetropes. These are cylinders with slits cut in the outside which spin. Looking through the slits at a sequence of pictures which have been mounted inside makes a moving image which can be viewed by several people at once.

The first of each of these we made using templates and pre-drawn designs, but once we’d all got the idea behind how they worked we all got on with drawing our own movies! We based them on the things we see around us, some were inspired by the trains we have running around the museum, others were sparked by the weather and my favourite was typically Brighton, a burger being stolen by some seagulls!

We’ll be holding similar events at the museum all through the year. We’re a venue for Brighton Festival Fringe, we invite people along after dark during Museums at Night and have guest entertainers on a regular basis. If you’re interested in any of these kinds of diversions or you’re looking for things to do in Brighton then just like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter where you can get all the latest news straight from the bear’s mouth.

Click "Read More" to see further photos of the Balloon Car Race and Moving Pictures:

The First Train Running Day Of The Year!

Our first Running Day of 2017 will be on 22 of April!

Running Days are a much anticipated opportunity to see some of the rarest and most delicate model trains in our 0 gauge collection running as Marklin, Hornby and Bassett Lowke intended.

Our Running days are always popular with collectors and aficionados as well as the general public as they afford visitors the opportunity to see trains that are normally kept motionless behind screens going full tilt around our superb diorama without the impedance of Perspex.

The museum opens at ten thirty and remains open until 5pm, with trains running from 11 until 1pm, when the museum curators and collectors break for lunch. After their break, and they return at 2.30 and continue running the trains until 4.30. Admission on the Running Day is £10 for adults, £5.50 for disabled and £5 for children under 16.

While the experts break, the museum remains open to visitors, who can enjoy all the other exhibits we normally offer, including our recent dolls’ house addition, our huge collection of toy cars, stuffed toys, and construction kits and so much more.

If you want to stay informed about this, or any other special events that are put on by Brighton Toy and Model Museum, why not follow us on Facebook for all the latest information on our activities and other news and events in the Brighton and Hove area?

Thanks To All Who Came To Our Christmas Playday

We here at the Toy Museum just wanted to say a big thank you to all the visitors who came along to our Christmas themed Playday last weekend.
We all had such a great time welcoming all the visitors, children and adults, who all seemed to be having a great time with the trains, making Christmas cards, snowflakes and glittery gifts, we enjoyed ourselves so much it was hard to get the last visitors to leave, but leave they must. So we hope that they will all come along to the next Playday which is scheduled for February, a time of year  when thoughts turn to love. And Spring. And warmer weather.
In the meantime, all of the staff and volunteers at the museum would like to wish all of our visitors the best of the season, a Happy New Year and most of all, that you get lots of fun toys in your stockings this Christmas!
And just to remind you that Brighton Toy and Model Museum will be close from the 23rd of december until the 26th and then again for New Year from the 28th until the second of January.

Ooh La La Board For Brighton!

Vintage car collectors, owners and enthusiasts are often compared to big kids tinkering with their toys. This being so, the Committee at Brighton Toy and Model Museum thought that the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run was the perfect cue to get their trainsets running again.

Brighton Toy and Model Museum will be holding another of their ever popular Train Running Days on November the 1^st to entertain all vintage enthusiasts and the nostalgic who will be on the South Coast for the London to Brighton rally the following day. Running days at the museum are unfortunately infrequent because the time and effort put into making sure the trains are properly maintained means that they can’t be run on a regular basis. This running day will be different from the running days that the museum are occasionally able to host thanks to a French inspired theme. The museum will be unpacking its rare French made models from the first half of the last century and will be running them alongside more familiar British makes.

For those dedicated Francophiles among us, the French theme continues after the museum’s normal opening hours: In the evening the Museum will be laying on a French soirée with authentic French music and chanteuse entertaining guests. A buffet of French foods including cheeses and wines will also be available.

 The Running Day on the first of November will be much like any other day at the museum except that many of the old, rare, and delicate trains which are normally only displayed behind glass in the central layout will be running. The glass will also be removed so visitors can get a really great unimpeded view of the trains as they go. There will also be staff and museum members on hand throughout the day to talk about the collections, their history as well as offering guidance and advice to any budding model rail enthusiasts.

Admission to the Running Day will be £10 per person, admission for those who wish to attend both the running day and the evening’s entertainments (which includes access throughout the museum) is £16.00. Tickets for the evening’s event will be £8.50 and will include a complimentary glass of wine.

For more information about booking tickets please see our Eventbrite pages. One allows you to book tickets for the running day while the other allows you to book for the evening of song or buy tickets for the entire day's schedule of events.

Recent Events: Toys In The Community Drop In Evening

On Wednesday we held an event to encourage people currently living in Brighton and Hove to come along and get involved in our project which will collect and share their memories of toys and models from their childhoods.

It was good to meet so many people who wanted to get involved in this project, and we're sure that with their help and the help of the contributors we gain in the future, then the Toys In The Community, Valuing Memories of dolls, teddy bears and construction toys initiative will be a valuable resource for people interested in childhood, play, development and memory for many years to come.
As well as the participants who came in and offered to share their memories we also had some of the consultants who are going to help make this project a reality in the museum to meet the volunteers and show them, and the participants what the process of gathering, collecting and storing the memories will involve.

When the project comes to fruition it will be more than just a relic in a museum, we are planning on keeping digital records of the memories which can then be shared in perpetuity on the internet, through a printed book and exhibit which will travel to various locations in order to bring memories of childhood and toys to where they are wanted.
In order to achieve this goal we have recruited the services of Steven Cragg, a local photographer who specialises in portraits, photographic services and events.
The designer who is taking care of the website which will be dedicated to the Toys In The Community project is Peter Pavement @surfimpress, managing director and founder of Surface Impression.
Paul Dutnall from JunkTV was also here,as  he is taking care of the videography for the project. JunkTV are a local youth and community TV production and screening company and Paul will be helping us tape and edit the interviews that we create.
Also present on the evening was Sarah Hitchings @spokenmemoirs of Spoken Memoirs another local organisation who specialise in recording oral histories, interviewing, oral history training, preservation and research.

Hornby Children's Play Day - 19th of May

As part of the Frank Hornby 150 project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, we hosted a Children's Play Day event featuring a host interactive activities.

The museum was divided into four themed activity areas: Art, Craft, Meccano and Trains. In each section, volunteers led a gaggle of very excited children through activities involving toys inspired by the legendary British toymaker, Frank Hornby. Activities included making paper crafted airplanes and helicopters, colouring sheets (designed by the museum's founder Chris Littledale and project coordinator Eric Baird), sponge painting etc. The most popular activity, with the kids, parents and grandparents alike, involved running the wooden toy train sets laid out on tracks across the floor of the museum. Not only were the activities fun, but also educational, good for developing children's imagination, focus and co-ordination.

As a special treat, the children were allowed  to take home all their work, including paint-your-own ceramic money boxes. A lot of them said that they were looked forward to using them for storing their treasures at home.

To finish it all, there was a delicious Frank's Birthday cake for all to enjoy and regain energy after hours of playing.

It was a joy to see museum's arches filled with excitement and activity this Sunday!

The event was run almost entirely by museum volunteers. Thank you all for participating!

Magic Lantern Show

On the 7th December the museum was transformed into a different world by the "Magic Lantern" show. The Victorian predecessor of the film camera, called the Magic Lantern, was projecting images of Christmas, local scenery and other themes, accompanied by the Pepper's Ghost Company's quartet, who were reading  poems, playing music and singing along to some truly enhancing music.

During the Victorian times, this was a highly popular leisure activity for the nobility and common people alike. Travelling companies would tour the country, showing amusing images and scenery from across the land in theatres. Public institutions would often have their own one and even families that could afford a simpler version would use the lantern to entertain themselves during friends and family gatherings.

The beauty of magic lantern is that it not only projects still images but it projects the images that are also moving, fading and so on, making the experience similar of the film.

The museum was packed to capacity with the audience transfixed by the images and everyone felt like they had been transported into the Victorian times. The museum already has a magical quality about it and the light effects bouncing off the glass cabinets only added to that.

Mulled wine, made to a Victorian recipe, was served during the show.

Jazz Night at the Museum

On Sat 24th November, the Museum had a great night of Jazz. A popular Brighton band, Harry's Tricks, played some amazing music to a captivated audience. Mike (lead guitar and vocals), Dmitri (trombone), Dave (base) and Dan (trumpet) filled the arches of the Museum with their music, putting life into the displays. Their music was lively and engaging, soulful and touching, something for everyone.

Some of the guests broke into a dance and one could feel the Museum come alive with all the gaiety. To add to the audience's pleasure, our very own "Tigger" joined in and sang some breath-taking French melodies. Tigger has many years of experience in singing with bands across France. She and the band gelled together so well, taking the audience into a sort of a trance.

A bar was open till midnight and kept the "spirits alive". There was a barrel of bitter from Harveys, which seemed to go down very well with the guests. And hey! No wonder of wonders, we managed to track down each and every glass.

To top it all, Chris gave us all a rare treat by running some of the special trains, including the Coronation Scot. That was unexpected and the crowd gathered around the tracks, watching the rare locomotives and  carriages rocking along on the rails.

All in all, a fantastic evening!

Forthcoming Events

On Saturday, 24th November at 8pm we are hosting a Jazz Night. The music will be performed by a mainstream jazz band Harry's Tricks.

On Friday, 7th December at 7.00pm join us for an authentic Victorian Christmas Magic Lantern Show

There will be a bar during both of the events!

Not only will you be able to enjoy the events but also to see the museum's exhibitions!

There are some discounted tickets available if purchased in advance.

Train Running Day - Coronation Scot Special

It's that time of the year again... The Brighton Toy and Model Museum will be hosting it's Autumn Train Running Day on Saturday 10th November 2012 from 11am until 5pm...

This time the exciting theme will be the 75th Anniversary of the Coronation Scot train and as the star of the show the museum will be presenting the one and only Bassett-Lowke Coronation Scot running on our extravagant '0' gauge layout.

If you have been to one of the museum's Train Running Days before you will know they are fun events for anyone whether you are a train enthusiast or you're a family looking for a great day out! This particular one however, if you are a Bassett-Lowke enthusiast, will be utterly unmissable. For anyone whose interest is more casual, it's a great time to come along!

Hope to see you there...

"A Victorian Christmas Magic Lantern Extravaganza"

On Friday Dec. 14th, Peppers Ghost presented:

'A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS MAGIC LANTERN EXTRAVAGANZA'

This was truly an evening of entertainment that took us back!

Live music and narration accompanied the slides, bringing the images to life and making the evening intimate and enchanting for all ages.

The show featured historic slides of Brighton, railways and lifeboats as well as numerous narrated vignettes, projected optical patterns (which were activated by turning a crank!) and 2-frame animated slides. Many of the historic slides were hand-tinted and others (like the Punch and Judy sequence) were illustrated in bright colours. Fantastic fun for the whole family, hopefully to be repeated soon!

"Transports of Delight"

ON SAT DEC 7, 2007, GUESTS ENJOYED AN ENCHANTING
EVENING OF MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT...

Print out the poster to help us advertise the event

'Transports of Delight' was yet another magical evening at the Museum. Music and entertainment were accompanied by a fully licensed bar and the fun continued till late...

'Hop on a Bus' - Special Exhibition

The Museum is holding an exhibition entitled 'HOP ON A BUS', displaying model buses and memorabilia. The exhibition was opened on Tuesday 1st of May by Roger French, Managing Director of Brighton and Hove Buses, and runs from 1st of May to 16th of June inclusive.

The Museum is promoting the bus and, in particular, Brighton and Hove Buses, with its exhibition. This is all part of the Museum's programme 'Making History Fun'.

Chris Littledale, founder of the museum, welcomed Roger French to the event and both made relevant speeches. The exhibition launch was a charming event as Roger is a great supporter of the Toy and Model Museum and of the bus industry.

Smugglers' Week - April 11-14

From Wednesday April 11th - Sat April 14th, the Toy Museum became a set for our special Easter holiday Smugglers' Week event, featuring two live performances (at 12 noon and 3pm) each day. Visitors heard grisly tales of smuggling days from an old smuggler in his lovingly re-created prison cell as he awaited transportation to the colonies!

Music Hall Extravaganza

On the evening of Sat April 7th the Museum filled with guests for our Music Hall Extravaganza; an evening of music and costume, featuring Trevor Littledale as our MC and numerous musicians. Guests were invited to attend in fancy dress and there was a fully licensed bar.

Music Night - An Evening of Talent and Fun

 

As part of its 'Victorian Christmas' celebrations, the Museum hosted an evening of music and singing on Sat December 9th. Several of the guests turned up in full Victorian costume, adding to the festive spirit of the occasion.

Superbly led by Roy Nash and Noel Dumbrell, it was a wonderful evening of singing and instrumental talent, complemented by a full licensed bar and lavish Victorian Christmas decorations. All present enjoyed themselves and we only hope that we can manage to organise another musical event early next Spring!