Giddyness at Brighton Museum

This week's session took place at Brighton Museum with the aim being for the pupils to develop a deeper sense of decades 40's, 50's and 60’s and how one influenced the next. 

The group started off by exploring the galleries 'Exploring Brighton' and 'Images of Brighton' recording, observing and drawing, images, objects and oral histories in response to a sequence of 'prompts:

i). Choose an object from 40/50/60's (each group given different time period) - draw and or describe the object (find something unusual, that intrigues you or haven't come across before)- what it looks like and what it was used for. Be detailed. 

ii). Listen to an oral history from 40/50/60's (each group given different time period) write down an interesting quote/sound bite from what you hear.

iii). What did people do at work/home/free time in Brighton in 40/50/60s find an example for each.

After sharing their findings, the fabulous Brighton Museum learning assistant,  Penny Balchin, led a costume handling session looking at the change in clothes from victorian times – 1960’s and how these changes related to other social and political changes in national and internationally. The pupils had great fun trying on costumes, not everyone was willing at first by the end they were all dressing up.  

The last activity demanded imagination and a bit of detective work. The group were presented with an old suitcase and were told it had been left at Brighton Station. The objects inside might provide some clues to who owned the suitcase and why it was left there. Their task was to open the suitcase and carefully take out the objects and then work in groups to come up with a story about the owner/s and what might have happened. They came up with some very imaginative stories and presented them back to each other.

Next week oral history training!