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Families looking for fun activities to fill the last weeks of the summer holidays should head down to Swindon’s STEAM Museum where three new exhibitions have been launched.
The Swindon Borough Council-owned museum, which is running its ‘Kids for a Quid’ offer throughout the holidays, is celebrating the original GWR’s emergency services, in particular the railway’s police force, fire brigades and first aid and ambulance services.
The Stop Police! exhibition explores the history of policing on the railways, beginning with the early police officers who directed trains using semaphore signals to today’s British Transport Police.
Objects on display include GWR truncheons, uniform badges, police signs, and fascinating documents from the museum’s archive collection. The exhibition also includes a fun semaphore flag interactive and a Take Your Own Mugshot photo gallery!
The second exhibition, Fire Fire, highlights the development of firefighting on the GWR network, from early horse-drawn fire pumps to motorised Dennis fire engines. It also looks at the role of firefighting during the Second World War when the country and the GWR was under attack. Younger visitors can also have a go at matching modern and vintage fire equipment in the interactive – Old or New?
The final exhibition in the trilogy, entitled Is it Safe? looks at the GWR’s initiatives to help prevent accidents on the railways and to offer lifesaving help when they happened. Using original images and objects from STEAM’s collection, Is it Safe? tells the story of the St John Ambulance, of which many GWR employees were members, and the GWR Safety Movement which encouraged safe working practices on the railway.
The museum’s hands-on drop-in sessions are also available throughout the summer holidays from the popular bridge building to object handling as well as an extra special Lego Brick Explorer Day – every Wednesday during the summer holidays it’s also family activity day at STEAM Museum.
Admission to all three special exhibitions and the family drop-in events is included with STEAM admission and free to STEAM season ticket holders. The ‘Kids for a Quid’ entry also means that up to four children can visit STEAM with a full paying adult.
Frances Yeo, Swindon Museums Manager said: “I’m delighted that we’re able to showcase more of our fantastic collections with these three exhibitions related to the GWR’s emergency services. In our Police Stop! exhibition, we’ve been able to include a new acquisition, a police helmet badge, purchased with assistance from the Friends of Swindon Railway Museum. It’s great that our Is It Safe exhibition showcases some of the tremendous images from our photographic collections, including some, often comical, images showing how the GWR tried to keep people safe on the railways.”
Councillor Marina Strinkovsky, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Placemaking, said: “Kids for a Quid is a fantastic way to have a brilliant day out in our museums, which a great day out for anyone.
“The bridge building activity is always super popular, and the object handling is a chance to get up close to the objects in our collections – a personal favourite of mine as I always wanted to touch everything in museums when I was little! I know the ‘Brick Explorer Day’ will bring lots of families to get hands-on with Lego and see everything else we have to offer!”
Visitors can find out more and book their tickets online through the STEAM website: www.steam-museum.org.uk
Follow the Museum on Facebook and Instagram (@SteamMuseum), or Twitter (@Steam_Museum).
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