Musical Museum Hosts 1940's Weekend
August Bank Holiday Wartime Throwback at Museum!
Following the success of last year’s event, the Musical Museum is once again holding a 1940s Weekend in conjunction with the Kew Bridge Steam Museum . The event will take place over the August bank holiday weekend, 29-31 August, 2009.
Volunteers at the museum, in period dress, will join in the spirit of the era.
There will be a highlight on Sunday at 3pm, when special guest, Marguerite Patten OBE will give a short, informal talk about her work for the Ministry of Food during the War. Her ideas were broadcast to the nation from the radio programme Kitchen Front. She will sign copies of her book Feeding the Nation – Nostalgic Recipes and facts from 1940-54.
Visitors will be given the chance to try samples of dishes made to war time recipes by volunteers of the Museum and find out what rationing was all about.
On Monday at 3pm an extract of the classic 1945 movie Brief Encounter starring Celia Johnson & Trevor Howard will be shown on the 18ft screen in the Concert Hall. As the lights go down, a prelude to the movie will be played on the ‘Mighty Wurlitzer’ cinema organ.
During the entire weekend the 1940s exhibition will feature local Brentford wartime history and “My Story” personal war time experiences of Museum volunteers against a backdrop of period posters and radio broadcasts.
Also planned over the weekend will be:
· Regular demonstrations of gallery instruments & Wurlitzer
· A barrel organ on the lawn
· 1940’s Jukebox – play & dance
· Old 78rpm gramophone records
· Lambs Passage – a VE Day Street.
· Make do and Mend
· Family trails, period jigsaws
The Riverview Tea Room & Gift Shop will be open each day.
Further details:
The Musical Museum
399 High Street, Brentford
Middlesex, TW8 0DU
Telephone: 020 8560 8108
www.musicalmuseum.co.uk
Admission: £7, concessions £5.50. Children under 16 free (must be accompanied by an adult).
Opening hours: 11am- 5.30pm, last admission 4.30pm
Nearest Rail station: Kew Bridge
The Musical Museum
The Musical Museum contains one of the world’s foremost collections of automatic instruments. From the tiny clockwork Musical Box to the self playing ‘Mighty Wurlitzer’, the collection embraces an impressive and comprehensive array of sophisticated reproducing pianos, orchestrions, orchestrelles, residence organs and violin players.
The Museum is arranged on 3 floors . On the ground floor there are 4 galleries to display working instruments. Upstairs there is a concert hall seating 230 complete with stage and, of course, an orchestra pit from which the Wurlitzer console will rise to entertain, just as it did in the cinema in the 1930’s.
The Museum’s comprehensive facilities allow for disabled access to all areas.
July 30, 2009
