Museums reopen
BRISTOL Archives, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and M Shed are re-opening with the lifting of Covid restrictions.
Bristol Archives should have reopened yesterday, May 17, while Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is welcoming visitors again from today, Tuesday May 18.
M Shed, however, will not be open until Friday, May 28.
All three sites have undergone checks to ensure they’re Covid-safe, and all visits should be booked in advance. As before, entry is free, and as before, donations are always welcome. Probably even more welcome right now.
As well as the permanent displays, there are some greatlooking temporary exhibitions coming up. Bristol Museum & Art Gallery for instance will be featuring Island Life, with 60+ photos from the Martin Parr foundation collection to provide a picture of life in post-war Britain. These will include pictures of major events, such as the Aberfan disaster and the Poll Tax riots, as well as pictures of everyday life, from holidays at Butlin’s to shopping and football.
Also at the Museum & Gallery, and on show from today, are 75 netsuke, finelycarved miniature Japanese sculptures from the Museum’s own collection.
M Shed’s re-opening at the end of the month will doubtless be attended with a lot of fanfare. There’s a huge exhibition looking at the evolution of Bristol’s famous street art starting in June.
We can also expect M Shed to at the centre of civic discussion over what to do about Edward Colston, his statue and his memory.
For full details on all of Bristol’s museums and archives events and exhibitions – including some of the online events which are still taking place – see www. bristolmuseums.org.uk
The indoor areas of most other visitor attractions in England will have re-opened by now, including one of the region’s biggest crowd-pullers, the SS Great Britain (see www. ssgreatbritain.org).
National Trust properties in England (and Wales) are also re-opening indoor areas this week. Details at www. nationaltrust.org.uk.
BT will be looking at many of these in future Holidays At Home features.