Celebrating Bristol’s treasures at MShed museum

By David Clensy

THERE are few people who would look at a paper bag and see a treasure.

But the spirit of the new M Shed museum will be to celebrate the normal; the everyday; the mundane – the things that make Bristol‘s social history come to life.

So perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising to find expert paper conservator Harry Metcalf, studying a brown paper bag, as though it’s the Crown Jewels.

After all, the eagerly-anticipated new museum, which is set to open on June 17, will be filled with more than 3,000 individual objects from the daily lives of Bristolians.

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150th anniversary of tugboat ahead of new Bristol museum launch

From Bristol City Council

The oldest of Bristol museum’s working exhibits – the Mayflower steam tugboat – marks her 150th anniversary on Wednesday, May 18. The Mayflower is the oldest Bristol-built ship still afloat and is believed to be the oldest steam tug in the world.

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Bristol Museum & Art Gallery night time celebration this weekend

From Bristol City Council
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery will be open to explore until 8pm on Saturday, May 14 as part of celebrations marking Museums at Night.

The annual after-hours celebration of arts, history and heritage, will take place this year over the weekend of Friday, May 13 to Sunday, May 15 with different events across the country.

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery... at night

Lauren Laverne, Museums at Night 2011 ambassador and BBC Radio 6 Music DJ and Channel 4’s 10 O Clock Live presenter, says: “Museums at Night is a fantastic initiative that really makes museums and galleries accessible, fun and interesting. It is so important to encourage a new generation to support and embrace arts and heritage in the UK. There are countless great events going on over the Museums at Night weekend – I can’t wait to sample some of them.”

This year’s campaign expects to attract in excess of 100,000 visitors; Sky Arts will be making a documentary film, capturing footage from events across the country and Lauren Laverne is the campaign ambassador.

The campaign is funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and Arts Council England, and coordinated by Culture24, a registered charity and not-for-profit online publisher, working across the arts, heritage, education, and tourism sectors.

For more information please visit www.museumsatnight.org.uk

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