The working life of Museum of London

Its that time again. December is upon us and we have another fabulous Grotto about to start at the Museum of London Docklands . No need to take my word for it though, just take a look at this tantalising glimpse of the Grotto entrance.

Here is another picture too of what it looks like right in the heart of our Grotto

If you want to see more and meet our Santa then book a meeting with him on 0207 0019844 or on the day here at the Museum of London Docklands.

Santa’s Grotto is open daily from 10 December until 23 December 2011.

If you are unable to visit Santa why not come along and meet Scrooge from 27 December 2011 to 1 January 2012!

You can also enjoy some festive family fun if you time your visit to Santa or Scrooge to coincide with our December events schedule. More details on our website.

October’s Dickens Book Club has already kicked off in my household, descending as I have into Dickens’ murky world of the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy five in A Tale of Two Cities.

Despite having studied English Literature at university my Dickens readometer is a little stunted (blame the tutors). Great Expectations (favourite all-time novel) and Oliver Twist (precious few show tunes) are the only two books I have made it to the end of. Even my dad’s fervent enthusiasm couldn’t see me to the end of The Pickwick Papers while the sheer length of Bleak House seemed overwhelming to the point of being unreadable.

But I’m ready to start anew. I’m already excited about peering through the thick mist that envelops so many of Dickens’ novels to unearth the maze of characters beneath; to find new favourite phrases from Dickens’ witticisms (the indignant ‘I’ll eat my head!’ a particular favourite from Great Expectations); and to discover the moments that will stay with me long after the book is done, just like those between Pip and Joe – what larks!

At forty six chapters long I am being pragmatic about the challenge that lays before us. My plan is to read two chapters per day for the first fifteen days of October, then one chapter per day until the end of the month. If my maths is correct this should see us glide neatly towards the final chapters in time for Halloween and November’s book, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

So I’ll be captaining our speedy ship through the 400 plus pages of Dickens’ fourteenth novel via updates on Facebook and Twitter – please do share your thoughts, comments, favourite quotes and anything else you’d like to discuss on those pages.

Finally, don’t forget you can buy your copy of A Tale of Two Cities from Foyles Bookshop and receive a discount when using the code ‘MOLBC’.

The Your 2012 exhibition is up and running and we are getting some fantastic feedback. If you have not already seen it then come along to the Museum of London Docklands and visit our free exhibition detailing the changes that have been going on around the Olympic site at Stratford.

So much has been happening recently that I felt obliged to give you this bumper blog update detailing the big changes. To begin, there is now a large bridge that is going over Stratford High Street so that users of the Greenway do not need to cross the road.

Health and Safety during the construction of the bridge has been a priority as can be seen from the below:

Further construction is also continuing on the Orbit. It is now over 76 metres high.

The Greenway beside the stadium has also been busy with its own art installation that you can see below:

If you were wondering what the explanation for this artwork is then read below:

If you would like to find out more about the Olympic site then I recommend that you come along to one of our Olympic walking tours,  ‘Walk the Olympic Way: Stratford Regeneration Tour’ which happen every Saturday and the last Wednesday of each month.

In case you are wondering what the tours are like, here are some photos from last week’s tour with our ever-enthusiastic resident Stratford and Olympic expert, Dave.

Finally, a reminder that we are looking for your photographs and observations of the Olympic Park to share on our YOUR 2012 flickr group. We will also be sharing in this group some of the hundreds of images that we took while developing this display.

The Your 2012 exhibition is up and running and we are getting some fantastic feedback. If you have not already seen it then come along to the Museum of London Docklands and visit our free exhibition detailing the changes that have been going on and around the Olympic site at Stratford.

What with the opening of the new Westfield shopping site it is now possible to see the key buildings around the Olympic site from new, exciting vantage points. We took a look around the area and have come up with the space age, futuristic images of the site below.

If the building below looks unfamiliar its probably because the public view of it was largely obscured previously by the Aquatic Centre. This building is in fact where the waterpolo will be played and is a temporary venue that will seat 5,000 people during the Olympics.

If you would like to find out more about the Olympic site then I recommend you come along to one of our Olympic walking tours that can be booked at  ‘Walk the Olympic Way: Stratford Regeneration Tour’ which take place every Saturday and last Wednesday of each month.

Also I would like to give a quick reminder that we are looking for your photographs and observations of the Olympic Park to share on our YOUR 2012 flickr group. We will also be sharing in this group some of the hundreds of images that we took while developing this display.

If Charles Dickens was alive today do you think he would be part of the Twitterati or an avid Facebook fan? (Remember, this is the man who in September 1860 burnt the majority of his correspondence).

Here at the Museum of London we have decided to honour Dickens’ work with a major exhibition Dickens and London which opens on 9 December 2011 in advance of the 200th anniversary of his birth, in 2012.

We have plans for a number of social media initiatives that we hope will enhance both the exhibition and your visit, the first of which launches this Monday 12 September – a virtual Dickens Book Club’s on both Twitter and Facebook.

Although an open forum to discuss all aspects of Dickens’s work, we will be suggesting a book a month to read and posting our thoughts (and hopefully chatting to you about your thoughts) across both Twitter and Facebook starting with September’s chosen novel: Great Expectations.

Other confirmed titles so far include: A Christmas Carol (naturally for December!), Barnaby Rudge in January 2012 (we will let you into a secret, this is such a large novel someone in the office is already reading it!) and Oliver Twist in April 2012.

So why not join us as we explore some of Dickens’ greatest works alongside some of his lesser known titles.

We are also looking for you to suggest titles to include so if you have a favourite please do let us know either via Twitter or Facebook and we will try to feature them before the exhibition closes on 10 June 2012.

Our Twitter and Facebook accounts will also be home to sneak previews of what to expect when you visit the exhibition and insights from our exhibition curators via our blog pages again in advance and during the course of the exhibition, so be sure to follow us or check our website regularly.

Look out too for an exciting short story initiative launching in November based on some of Dickens’ ideas for stories and characters which did not find their way into print.

Toddler favourites Teletubbies and In the Night Garden are the latest in a long heritage of fantastic children’s TV for the under 5s.

The origins of children’s television in programmes such as Andy Pandy and Bill and Ben (the flowerpot men) are, in some ways, very different but at the same time very familiar to what our children see and enjoy today.

The pioneers of this new medium in the 40s and 50s were Frida Lingstrom and Maria Bird at the BBC who developed the ‘Watch with Mother’ slot and invented the characters Andy Pandy, Bill and Ben and the Woodentops amongst others.

The Museum of London is fortunate to have many of these puppets as part of the collection.

On the Exploring 20th Century London website you will find an Audio Slideshow  alongside an opportunity to test your knowledge in a fun quiz whilst looking out for tweets and facebook posts capturing the lives of Londoners  in  the 20th Century.

Time is ticking away before the 20 images that will make up the Your 2012 free photography exhibition go on display dealing with the impact of the construction of the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London. Come along and see it when it starts at the Museum of London Docklands on the 22nd of July 2011.

Obviously feverish action is taking place to make sure everything is ready and looking fantastic. Knowing the effort that is needed to make this exhibition take place makes myself even more impressed by the rate of progress at the Olympic site. Already the Aquatic Centre is ready as is the Velodrome and according to the latest news this month so is the mobile basketball stadium. Perhaps the most amazing achievement is the biggest, the Olympic stadium itself, as can be seen below.

Efforts are now going on the make the surrounding vicinity look equally resplendent as can be seen by the following image below.

Construction efforts have now moved on to the left of the site.  (If you look carefully in the distance you can see the red brick Byrant and May building).

Further along you can see how the site is now being concreted over.

If you would like to learn more about the Olympic site than I recommend that you come along to one of the our tours called ‘Walk the Olympic Way’ that we will be offering on Wednesday July 27th from 2.30pm – 4pm.

Don’t forget to check this blog next week when I will be talking about art around the Olympic site and Stratford.

Peter

Time is ticking away before the 20 images that will make up the Your 2012 free photography exhibition go on display dealing with the impact of the Olympic Park’s construction upon Stratford, East London. Come along and see it when it starts at the Museum of London Docklands on the 22nd of July 2011.

If you want to have a clear idea of the scale of construction going on at the moment then check out these images of cranes at various sites around the Olympic venue.

(looking over the Olympic warm up area)

(photo taken on the Greenway with the Olympic stadium in the distance) 

If you would like to learn more about the Olympic site than I recommend that you come along to the Olympic tour called ‘Walk the Olympic Way’ that we will be offering on Wednesday July 27th from 2.30pm – 4pm.

Make sure to check this site next week when I will talk to you about the vast area beside the stadium and all the progress going on there.

Peter

Time is ticking away before the 20 images that will make up the Your 2012 free photography exhibition go on display dealing with the impact of the construction of the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London. Come along and see it when it starts at the Museum of London Docklands on the 22nd of July 2011.

This exhibition will give you a great visual idea of all the changes taking place to make the site ready for next year. However if you want to have a great view next year then probably the best place to go will be the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower. At 115 metres high it will be more than twice the height of Nelson’s Column but 20 metres shorter than the Millenium Eye at Westminster. This gigantic tower will cost around £19 million and has already acquired various nicknames such as ‘the Colossus of Stratford’ and ’the Hubble Bubble’ whilst various newpapers are refering to it as a giant lattice. As you can see it will be huge and this is exactly what Mayor Boris Johnson asked for as one of his provisions for the big Tower was that it should rival the Eiffel Tower.

Judge for yourself below.

If you would like to learn more about the Olympic site than I recommend that you come along to one of the our Olympic tours called ‘Walk the Olympic Way’ that we will be offering on Sunday 12th June 2011 from 2.30pm -4pm and Wednesday July 27th from 2.30pm – 4pm.

Don’t forget to check this blog next week when I will talk about the large number of cranes in use around the Stratford area overlooking the Olympic site.

Peter

Time is ticking away before the 20 images that will make up the Your 2012 free photography exhibition go on display dealing with the impact of the construction of the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London. Come along and see it when it starts at the Museum of London Docklands on the 22nd of July 2011.

It looks set to be a very exciting exhibition on a topic that is interesting for many people. Public and media interest is growing exponentially at the moment for the Olympics. Look at this post taken by the Viewtube during high Summer last year and compare it with the pictures taken earlier this month below at the same site.

Not only are large numbers of schools attending the site but also various senior citizens and tourist groups.

Even the media itself are regularly checking up on progress and reporting it nationwide.

If you would like to learn more about the Olympic site than I recommend that you come along to one of the our Olympic tours called ‘Walk the Olympic Way’ that we will be offering on Sunday 12th June 2011 from 2.30pm -4pm and Wednesday July 27th from 2.30pm – 4pm.

Come again next week and we will look at the progress taking place at the Crossrail site that is right in front of the Olympic Stadium.

Peter