MAKING HOME AWAY
![A makeshift kitchen in a refugee caravan in the Zaatari refugee camp, 2019. Photo by Yasmine Shamma](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/WhatsOn_featured_Making_Home_Away-770x365.jpg)
Come along and explore a replicated United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) tent decorated by a Syrian refugee and discover more about the interior and exterior space. Last year, the UN Refugee Agency revealed that the number of people fleeing violence was the highest recorded since the Second World War. While the need for […]
GLOW: A MERL LATE
![A hand holding a decorated diwali diya lamp for GLOW, a MERL Late](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/whatson-featured-glow-770x365.jpg)
GLOW with The MERL – Exploring the Light & the Dark If you missed GLOW on the night, or just want to relive it, you can watch the entire event any time on our YouTube channel. Light a candle, get comfy, sit back and enjoy! “So impressed with @TheMERL’s virtual museum Late this evening. Covering […]
PREMIERE OF ‘I, SHEEP’
![A screenshot of a shadow of a sheep on a farm featured on the new film poem I, Sheep](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/whatson-featured-isheep-770x365.jpg)
At 12pm on the 24th July, please join us for the online premiere of I, Sheep. This is a deeply moving filmpoem that combines video, poetry and performance to tell the profound story of a single ewe and her links to the lives of a farm and farming family. I, Sheep‘s exploration of rural heritage […]
NOW ONLINE: SEMINAR SERIES: DESIGNING LANDSCAPES FOR THE PEOPLE
![Photo of Green Park for the FOLAR designing landscapes seminar series](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/whatson-feat-folar-green-park-770x365.jpg)
DESIGNING LANDSCAPES FOR THE PEOPLE – from the Clapham omnibus to the Royal Parks This series of lunchtime talks will span the early 20c UK approach to city planning, civic design, parks and gardens, encompass the formation of the UK professional body of landscape architects, the evolving Royal Parks, the impact of corporate landscapes, and […]
NOW ONLINE: VIRTUAL & REALITY
![Boy on the MERL quad bike wearing a virtual reality headset](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/whatson-feat-vr-770x365.jpg)
Our holiday events are going online! Join us on social media for a digital alternative to trying our VR and object handling activities at the museum. Pull up a chair, imagine it’s a quad bike, climb on and watch a 360 version of our Quad Bike VR film to be transported to Dartmoor with Shepherd, […]
CANCELLED: INDIGO SEED PLANTING WITH SIGRID HOLMWOOD
![plants growing in the foreground with a wooden sign behind saying woad](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/02/WhatsOn-featured_woad-770x365.jpg)
EVENT CANCELLED Due unforeseen circumstances Sigrid Holmwood is no longer able to be with us on Saturday. As a result, the seed planting event has been cancelled. The Museum will be open so please come and enjoy the garden and the galleries. Our indigo bed will need to be planted another day and we hope […]
THINKING RATIONALLY?
![Thinking Rationally in red text stamped over a ration book](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/02/WhatsOn-featured_thinking_rationally2-770x365.jpg)
Online Exhibition and Activities Online exhibition Thinking Rationally? is an exhibition by third year Museum Studies students at the University of Reading. They looked at objects from The MERL to learn about food and clothing rationing in Britain during the Second World War and how stories from this period can help us live more sustainably […]
FOLAR ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM: THE LANDSCAPE OF STATE FINANCED INDUSTRY
![](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/01/WhatsOn-featured_FOLAR_synposium-770x365.jpg)
State owned industries have had an enormous impact on the UK’s landscape and on UK infrastructure, but the influence of these businesses and their landscape staff has often gone unnoticed and uncelebrated – and there is much to laud and many lessons to learn. Chair: Jane Findlay, President Elect, Landscape Institute Speakers: • Dr Luca Csepely-Knorr […]
COMMON SALT BY SHEILA GHELANI AND SUE PALMER
![Sheila Ghelani & Sue Palmer wearing brightly coloured shirts and stripy ties which have been cut off, from Common Salt](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/01/WhatsOn-featured_Common-salt-770x365.jpg)
Common Salt is a performance around a table – a ‘show and tell’. It explores the colonial, geographical history of England and India taking an expansive and emotional time-travel, from the first Enclosure Act and the start of the East India Company in the 1600s, to 21st century narratives of trade, race and culture. Common […]
JACKIE OATES AND PETE FLOOD
![Pete Flood sitting and gesturing whilst speaking with MERL cow in background](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/11/WhatsOn_Featured_pete-flood-770x365.jpg)
Over the last 18 months The Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL) in collaboration with the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) have hosted the residency of two folk musicians: Jackie Oates and Pete Flood. During this performance they will showcase the culmination of that musical journey and the compositions they have developed […]