October 2011

A full programme of events for children and family visitors to the historic Greenwich National Maritime Museum (NMM) and Queen’s House (QH). For Royal Observatory, Greenwich and Peter Harrison Planetarium events please contact the Press Office on 020 8312 6790/ 6732/ 6545

October highlights

A programme of events runs throughout the school holidays celebrating the opening of the Museum’s new Traders gallery. The annual Halloween family fun day also takes place this month and children are invited to come along in their best vampire and monster costumes for some freaky fun. Plus the Museum is also hosting a day of activities as part of the Family Learning Festival which takes place in October.

October School Holidays: Curious Cargo

Monday 24 October–Friday 28 October 2011

Fabulous fabrics for people to wear. Exotic spices to make food taste delicious. Refreshing tea for grown-ups to drink. From the 1750s people in Britain had a huge choice of things to buy for the very first time, at affordable prices – all thanks to the fortunes of the British East India Company trading goods from across the world. Discover more in a range of intriguing activities about the company’s trade in fabrics and spices with India, and explore the new Traders gallery.

Price tag

Add your ideas on fashion and fair trade to a giant installation by textiles artist Zeena Shah. Explore how the British East India Company brought blue jeans, beautiful ‘paisley’ patterned scarves and sumptuous silks to Britain, forever changing the way we look and feel.

Drop-in workshop

Dates: 24–28 October
Times: 11.30–13.30, 14.00–16.00
Venue: NMM main entrance foyer
Ages: Suitable for all ages
Admission: Free

John Morgan: Voice of a Lascar

Go on a journey with South Asian Lascar John Morgan, as he tells you about working for the British East India Company to bring fabrics, spices and tea to Britain. His extraordinary story will take you on a voyage from Chennai (Madras) to London and reveal the people, places and ideas that shaped his life.

Interactive performance

Dates: 25 and 27 October
Times: 12.00, 13.00, 14.00, 15.00
Venue: NMM main entrance foyer and Traders gallery
Ages: Suitable for ages 6+
Admission: Free

Beneath the Surface: Story Re-Telling

Join storyteller-in-residence Seema Anand for an alternative gallery tour of Traders. She will take you and your family diving beneath the surface of the gallery and get you talking about the unexpected things you might find there.

Interactive history-telling session

Dates: 24, 26 and 28 October
Times: 12.30–13.30, 14.30–15.30
Venue: NMM main entrance foyer and Traders gallery
Ages: Suitable for ages 7+
Admission: Free

Shampoo and Pyjamas: Borrowed Words

Create poems about how words from India travelled to Britain, along with goods on British East India Company ships. Join performance poet Avaes Mohammad, to uncover the many meanings behind these borrowed words such as ‘shampoo’ and ‘pyjamas’, and perform your poem in the Traders gallery.

Timed workshop, please collect free tickets from the Ticket Desk

Dates: 25 and 27 October
Times: 12.00–13.30, 14.30–16.00
Venue: NMM main entrance foyer and Traders gallery
Ages: Suitable for ages 7+
Admission: Free

Creative Cargo: Ideas Trolley

T-shirts, jeans, curry, tomato ketchup and cups of tea – where did they come from and how did they get here? Become a detective and uncover how many of the things you enjoy first came by sea to Britain. Write, draw and talk about what you discover.

Drop-in workshop

Dates: 24, 26, 28 October
Times: 11.30–13.30, 14.00–16.00
Venue: Traders gallery
Ages: Suitable for all ages
Admission: Free

Play Tuesdays: Supermarket Sweep

Sail a ship around the world collecting your favourite food and drink for your supermarket.

Drop-in workshop

Dates: 25 October
Times: 10.30–12.30, 13.00–15.00
Venue: Mess Deck
Ages: Suitable for under-5s
Admission: Free

The Company that Changed the World

Explore the Traders gallery with your family and discover more about how the clothes we wear and the food and drinks we consume, are connected to the company that changed the world.

Gallery guide and trail: available from the Information Desk

Dates: 24–28 October
Venue: NMM
Ages: Suitable for ages 7+
Admission: Free

Tara Arts Presents: Sailing to Britain

Uncover the lives of Lascars – migrant sailors who were shipped to Britain from Africa and Asia by the East India Company. This dynamic performance is by young people aged 14–22 who took part in Tara Arts’ Sailing to Britain project.

Performance: collect free tickets from the Ticket Desk

Dates: 28 October
Times: 15.00
Venue: NMM Lecture Theatre
Ages: Suitable for ages 7+
Admission: Free

Special events

Halloween Family Fun Day

Come to the National Maritime Museum for a fang-tastic day out this Halloween. The Queen’s House is open to all vampires and monsters on a mission to have fun. Make a bat for the secret cave hideout and invent a new way to shield yourself from sunlight. Share stories of how you have found victims to scare and show off your quick get-away moves in a dance workshop. Dress up in your best cloak and be proud to reveal your true vampire self for a gruesomely entertaining day out.

Prizes will be given for best costumes. All participants will receive a certificate.

Visit http://www.rmg.co.uk/Halloween for details or to book tickets.

Dates: 30 October
Times: 11.30–16.00
Venue: Queen’s House, National Maritime Museum
Ages: Suitable for all ages
Admission: Adult £6, Child £3.50, Family ticket £16 (for 2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children)

Family Learning Festival

Come along for a day of fun in Greenwich and take part in a range of activities for all the family as part of the National Family Learning Festival. Discover more about all the amazing things on offer for families in the borough of Greenwich.

Dates: 15 October
Times: 11.30–16.00
Venue: Queen’s House
Ages: Suitable for all ages
Admission: Free

Galleries

The 'Children’s Gallery' and the 'Ship Simulator' Interactive Galleries

These family-friendly galleries are ideal for younger visitors, allowing them to explore maritime skills and technologies past and present, from deep-sea diving to steering a ship into port. Step aboard the Ship Simulator and discover the art of navigation and communication at sea. Become the captain of a ship and try your hand at manoeuvring into port using the state-of-the-art bridge simulator. Equipped with the very latest technology used to train real seafarers, the simulator brings to life the excitement, difficulties, hazards and skills of handling ships at sea. You could find yourself at the helm of a fishing boat navigating buoys in New York Harbour, following a helicopter rescue mission to a sinking vessel, navigating a frigate into position off Sydney shores or steering a P&O ferry into port in Dover. Over in The Children’s Gallery, children can have a go at everything from sending a semaphore signal to cargo loading, and even firing a canon.

Admission: Free

General Information

The National Maritime Museum opens at 10.00 and closes at 17.00 daily.

General admission to National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House is free.

Admission to the Royal Observatory’s historic Flamsteed House, Time Galleries, Meridian Line Courtyard and Meridian Building is £7 for adults (£5 concessions). Entry for children under 16 is free. An annual pass is also available for adults priced at £10 (£7.50 concessions); this pass allows visitors to return as many times as they like within 12 months for no additional charge. Admission to the Royal Observatory’s Astronomy Centre which houses three state-of-the-art modern astronomy galleries is free of charge.

All events included here are free of charge to all visitors unless stated.

The Museum is located a short walk from the Cutty Sark DLR, and Maze Hill and Greenwich train stations. The closest tube stations are North Greenwich (to change to local buses) and Canary Wharf (to change to DLR), both on the Jubilee line.

For updated information prior to visit please visit our web site: http://www.rmg.co.uk or phone (020) 8858 4422.

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Issued August 2011 by the National Maritime Museum Press Office.

For further information or images please contact:
National Maritime Museum Press Office
Tel: 020 8312 6545/6732 | 07960 509 802
Email: press@rmg.co.uk