Parlour games, tea duelling, storytelling and community carol singing will be among the free-of-charge activities at the Museum in the Park’s Victorian-inspired weekend.
The Festive Winter Weekend will take place on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 December from 11am – 4pm.
The Stroud District Council-run museum will then close for two months from 4 December 2023 to 27 January 2024 for the installation of a low carbon heating system, and its usual conservation clean.
Drop in for:
- Decoration & Gift Making, Saturday & Sunday, 11am – 4pm
- Parlour Games Saturday & Sunday, 11am – 1pm
- Quiz Trails Saturday & Sunday, 11am – 4pm
- Tea Duelling Saturday & Sunday, 2.30pm
- Community Carol Singing in the Garden Pavilion, Saturday 4pm
- Tales for the Turning of the Year: Storytelling with Fiona Eadie, Sunday 2pm & 3pm (for ages 5+)
- Dramatic Reading of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens, read by Steven Deproost, Sunday 4pm (for adults & ages 7+)
Visitors who attend in Victorian style dress will receive a complimentary hot drink or gift.
The Museum shop will be open during the weekend, stocked with a variety of unique gifts, wrapping paper, Christmas decorations, books, and plants many of which are made locally or curated from the museum’s exhibitions.
Cllr Beki Aldam, Chair of Stroud District Council Community Services & Licensing Committee said:
“This is a lovely way to get into the Christmas spirit. We are committed to ensuring everyone has access to good quality leisure opportunities, and to ensuring the museum remains at the heart of the wider community.”
Cllr Trevor Hall, Vice Chair added:
“The renewable heating project helps towards achieving a number of objectives in our Council Plan and 2030 Strategy: to be a carbon neutral and ecologically sound district by 2030 and invest in our leisure provision to make it fit for the future.”
The museum’s annual closure for deep cleaning and essential maintenance will be extended this year as the Grade II listed building is part of an ambitious £5million project to replace aging gas boilers with brand new renewable heating systems at three Stroud District Council-owned sites – Stratford Park Leisure Centre and The Museum in the Park in Stroud and The Pulse leisure centre in Dursley.
The cutting-edge green technology will be supplemented by additional solar panels.
It will save hundreds of tonnes of carbon emissions every year and is a key part of Stroud District Council’s pledge to do everything in its power to ensure the district becomes carbon neutral by 2030.
Stay in touch with the museum while it is closed by opening a daily advent calendar on Facebook and Instagram, and by joining its free-of-charge membership
The Museum in the Park, managed by Stroud District Council in collaboration with the Stroud District (Cowle) Museum Trust, is situated in a Grade II listed 17th Century former wool merchant’s house. The museum tells the extraordinary and diverse history of Stroud district and has over 4,000 objects and artefacts on display – from dinosaur bones to one of the world’s first lawnmowers.
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