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.

Tower of London

Beafeaters, beheadings, ravens and lots of stairs; the Tower is in London's premier league of tourist traps attracting large crowds and long queues. In mid February, however, it was reasonably quiet and not a queue in site.

On entering it was clear that B's nappy was in need of change. The man in the tourist shop told me that there were no changing facilities; I found them in the disabled toilets behind the crown jewels.

We started with a walk round the wall. This takes you into many of the rooms used as prisons and one King's bedroom. I remember, as a child, being impressed by the graphiti carved into the stone on the wall by various inhabitants before their fateful walk up to the hill overlooking the tower; D, however, was uninterested but enjoyed looking out of the windows along the way with views of the Themes and Tower Bridge.

Next to the crown jewels; in the summer the queue can last for hours. In winter there was no queue at all. Many of the exhibits require lifting a child and one never got the feeling that they really liked what they saw. D did not think that, even if you asked REALLY nicely they would let you eat of one of the various imperial gold plates in the cafe. B, however, was very impressed with the security doors.

The White Tower houses exhibits from the Royal Armoury; lots of model horses and suits of armour. Also a lot of stairs "Unfortunately, in the 11th Century they didn't think of putting in lifts" I explain as we walk up another flight; "Why?" asks D. The top floor houses a hands on place where one can try out pulling an archery bow and lifting various swords and looking through the visor of a suit of armour. Both kids enjoyed this, but at only 2 B was too young to try things and D always needed lifting and or help.


What: Tower of London
Where: Near "Tower Hill" tube station; map
Cost: Adults: £15
When: Permanent (very permanent)
Going again: Yes, but probably when the kids have more of an understanding of the historical context.
Try: Hampton Court
Top tip: Don't turn up with a buggy, lots of stairs. If you can choose when to go choose a warmer winter day to miss the crowd.