Storytelling at Museum in the Docklands

For the two bigger Buggies a trip on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is a trip out on its own; as we left Stratford station Buggy-D wistfully remarked "This is my favourite railway in the whole world"
"Now, there's an accolade" I replied.
"Where?"

The Museum in the Docklands is housed in an old warehouse on the West India Quay, despite the time of year the weather was fine so we decided to eat our packed lunch sitting on a bench on by the side of the water. The added temptation of a group of boats to look at kept the Buggies more than happy. In order to generate some interest in London Bridge I told them the story of The Peddler of Swaffham in which a Norfolk peddler makes a journey to London Bridge only to find everything he wanted was back at his home in Swaffham.

Next step is into the museum and checking the times; the staff on reception didn't know it was happening, not a good start, but after a bit of investigation and talking on walky talkies the times were ascertained and we made our way into the Mudlarks education area.

Buggie-D refers to the Museum in the Docklands as "the stone museum" because of an exhibit in Mudlarks which shows how rivers pull stones down a river; the area also houses a soft play area (for the younger kids) and various docklands and river Thames related activities. As it turned out both buggies were more excited about the soft play on this visit and pursuading them to join me in the main museum was tricky.

The event that we had come for, aside from the general museum which I'll talk about soon, was about London Bridge and set on the top floor of the museum next to a model of the 17th Century bridge (image from creative commons) complete with the houses and shops. I wasn't expecting anything in particular but was a little surprised to find that the story told was.... "The Peddler of Swaffham." I was half expecting Buggie-D To point out as mistakes any deviations from my version but, thankfully, he just enjoyed it for what it was. The group attending was small and, as can be expected with an audience of under 5s, attention wandered, but the storyteller did a good job of keeping it going and, I think, both buggies got a lot out of the second version of the day. However little use was made of the model, as I expected would have been, a prop that, to me, could have really set the scene against the London bridge up the river.

The museum its self is excelent, I've visted it in the past; sadly we didn't have as much time to look round it as I would have liked but both older buggies liked the the information about whaling (Buggie-D's love of all things natural has extended very much into the kingdom of aquatic mamals) the museum has in its collection a narwal spike and the lower jaws of a sperm whale; also various tools from London's old whaling industry. The mocked up docklands street was also popular as was the WWII exhibition; Buggie-D is beginning to put things together aboutt his piece of history and is aware that it is a huge war fort against Germany, this pressents a problem to him as he loves Germany due to a holiday in Berlin "they're not baddies now are they?" he asks pleadingly. In general this was a very good day out, in fact, as we left the museum an accolade was perching by the window, glancing in it took to the air flying along West India Quay towards Canary Whaff before flying off into the distance; it very nearly made an bigger apearance its self.

What: Storytelling
Where: Museum in the Docklands
Getting there: Near Canary Wharf Station; map
Cost: Adults £5 (annual ticket); children free
Again: Yes, probably when an interesting event is on
Try: Museum of London (BuG entry)

Museum of London

The Museum of London tracks the history of London and Londoners from prehistory to the present day. On the whole the museum does live up to its good reputation, however the Bug, as always is interested in what the buggies will make of it and here, sadly, it falls down. The few hands on exhibits are aimed at older kids or adults; computer terminals provide more information but that only results in requests to watch the green anaconda (not something I would normally write in connection to this museum!) add to this the generic nature of most of the exhibits makes it hard to keep them engaged or interested in what they were looking at.

The great fire exhibition and video interested them both, as did the prehistoric stone tools. The models of buildings from Roman London also caught their attention and we could talk about the origins of London Bridge; but after that we found little else.

In conclusion, this is a good museum, but clearly not intended for children so young. If that's what your looking for try the Museum in the Docklands.

What: Museum of London
Where: City of London, map
Getting there: Between Bank and Barbican stations
Cost: Free
Again: Possibly when they are older
Try: Museum in the Docklands
Top tip: Walk from the Barbican station is almost all under cover. Also, an indoor picnic area is provided so bring your own lunch.

Coram's Fields

Coram's Fields is a large children's playground area in central London. The field contains various playground equipment which is good but not spectacular compared to many other playgrounds, it also houses a number of animals including sheep, goats (which were free to roam when Bug and Buggies visited) and birds. A cafe provides coffee and food (Bug didn't visit so no comment) and finaly there is plenty of space.

Generaly the bigger Buggies found the playground fun, imediatly zooming in on the bigger childrens play ground; there were not many people arround so only the hurdle of climbing up something they couldn't reach got in the way of a great deal of fun. We also looked at the birds
which are housed in a very dated aviary and sheep in an enclosure on one side of the fields. The littlest Buggie slept.

Over all the history of the fields seemed far more exciting to the Bug than the fields themselves but that shouldn't take away what is, after all a large free play area walking distance from King Cross, The British Museum, and various shopping areas; nothing short of an oasis.

What: Coram's Fields
Where: Between Russel sq and Kings Cross; map
Cost: Free
Again: When I'm in the area.

Latitude (out of town)

Latitude is one of Glastonbury's many little brothers or sisters but aiming to provide much more than just pop music and overcrowded camping; offering literature, dance, music, film, poetry, the all important Children's area and, of course, pop music and overcrowded camping. Many people have reviewed the actual event in terms of what it has offered and generally the reviews are very positive; I'll concentrate on what it offered families.

In summary Latitude lived up to its name as a child friendly event with a very relaxed feel and open to all ages; L, aged just 2 months was not the youngest!

Getting there

The festival is in Henham Park, Sussex; it was a sufficiently long drive that, with kids, it was worth stopping on the way. But the drive was simple and reasonably quick beyond that.

Our first mistake was to park in the wrong place and ended up having to carry a lot of stuff a very long way with two children and a baby in tow (not a great start); however wheelbarrow hire and very friendly and generally helpful staff made this much better than it could have been.

Camping

The family area is an area of the camp site only accessible if you have the correct family pass; although this was inconsistently policed (sometimes our friends could come in if they were with us; others they could not) the area was certainly populated with plenty of children of all ages. The camping area also provided some simple children's activities (circus stuff and art material), separate loos (see below) and its own food tent.

The family camping area seemed more crowded than other parts of the campite and overflowed into the caravan park, this could well be as a result of the success in the last few years; but hopefully the organisers will take note and increase its size next year.

One major downside to the festivals are toilets; the family loos were generally cleaner (porta-loos rather than latrenes) but frequently blocked or ran out of water. I would not be too critical however; the organisers did provide extra loos when it became apparent that they were needed.

Family arena

In the arena (separated from the campsite) was another family area, again only allowing families access. This provided the bulk of the family orientated activities which were as good as they were varied. D & B particularly liked the pond dipping and woodland activities; also covered were parachute games, plays, stories, arts and general play stuff with an under fives "parent and child chill out area" providing free refreshments, suncream and nappies.

Sadly we did not make it to a daily performance of Hansel and Gretal; a shame as it is one of both D & B's favourite stories. I think D was worried that the witch would turn out to be real...

General arena

In the main part of the festival the areas were very welcoming of young children, the programme marked where an event was not appropriate. This meant that all of us could see performers that I would not have expected to be able to take them to at any other place, including a Michael Nyman piano concert which D & B both slept through.

There was a daily children's book session in the literary area; sadly we managed to forget this on all three days.

Conclusion

This was a great weekend; through all the problems, tiredness and very frayed tempers by the time we left on Sunday evening all four of those that could express an opinion wanted to come back next year. My only main concern is that our camping holiday in the Isle of Wight might now prove to be a disapointment to D who will be expecting music, drama, pond dipping, etc.

What: Lattitude
Where: Henham Park; sussex
Cost: Adults £130; children free
Going again: Already have tickets
Try: Innocent viliage fate
Top tip: Don't take too much, you probably won't need it. Find out how to get to the closest car park to the family area BEFORE leaving

Walthamstow Young Peoples' Caribbean Carnival

This is an event that I remember from when I was young. The parade is populated by young people from various groups and schools throughout Walthamstow who parade about one to two miles through Walthamstow to the town square. D's nursery was represented, using the theme of Indian animals and so, dressed as tigers (pictured) and peacocks we walked the mile or so along the route.

The parade costumes were far more impressive than those in my memory and ended with a full funfair, including rides and games, with all the children taking part getting their five minutes of fame on a big stage.

My only real complaint was the lack of advertising. I live on the route of the parade and only knew about it because I was in it and, thus, the roads were not so much lined with cheering crowds as bemused shoppers and annoyed motorists. Probably not enough to ruin what was a good day out, but annoying none the less.

What: Young Person's Caribbean Carnival
Where: Starts at Walthamstow Town Hall finishes at Walthamstow Town Square (close to Walthamstow Central)
Cost: Free
Going next year? Possibly, depends if we're involved and if not if its advertised!
Try: Notting Hill Carnival

Twenty20 Cricket

I sometimes take D & B (and probably now L) to watch Leyton Orient play and have been meaning to take them to a cricket match for a while. However, the prospect of choosing between watching the game with bored children or not watching the game entertaining them behind the grandstand did not fill me with joy so I was pleasantly surprised to find that Middlesex vs Hampshire was played at the Richmond cricket ground. This is much more fold-up chairs around the boundary rope than permanent grandstands allowing a full view of both match and space for the kids to play when they had become bored of watching.

IPL this was not but for introducing young kids to cricket this was perfect.

What: Twenty20 cricket at Richmond Cricket Ground (see Middlesex cricket club)
Where: About 15 minutes walk from Richmond tube station
Cost: Adult £15; concessions are cheaper, check for details
When: Hopefully this is an annual fixture
Going again: Yes
Top tip: Take a toy bat and ball; there is plenty of space to use them.

London Transport Museum

A journey getting around London in the past 200 years. The permanent exhibition takes you through early omnibuses, horse drawn trams, etc; many of the exhibits can be boarded, and in fact the barriers preventing the rest were small enough to allow B free access when I wasn't looking!

Further on one fines various ages of tube trains including an underground steam train and finally the main room contains various old busses, trams, trolly busses; a picnic area with transport related toys. The opportunity to sit in the driving seat of a big red bus. Surrounding the large exhibits are various smaller models; information posters and old adverts. Finally each child is given a card to stamp at various points throughout their journey keeping them entertained throughout.

This was a fantastic museum with a huge amount to engage kids and enough to be interesting to adults too. However, I went on a Monday which I had taken off work, given its Covent Garden location I would imagine that this could become very crowded at weekends.

What: London Transport Museum
Where: Covent Garden
Cost: Adults £10; under 16s Free
Going again: Probably
Try: Science museum, Kew steam museum
Top tip: The cafe seem to be happy to feed your children with food taken from home assuming you buy something for yourself.