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News and Views

Discover stories from our collections, work, research, and events. Warning: may contain absolute units.

A drawing of Friday Fledglings.
Author
Joe
/
Published Date
November 18, 2022

Takeover Day 2022 at The MERL

For Takeover Day 2022, a student from Addington School talks about their internship here at The MERL.

Autumnal tree in The MERL garden.
Author
Joe
/
Published Date
November 8, 2022

Pumpkins, partners, and plant sales: our autumn garden updates

Learn the autumn updates from The MERL gardening team. Hear about what we’ve been growing, our community projects, and new plant sales.

The logo for Our Green Stories.
Author
Joe
/
Published Date
October 12, 2022

Our Green Stories: sustainability in our community

Learn about an environmental campaign by Museums Partnership Reading, championing sustainability in our community from now through 2023.

Borodianka rooster.
Author
Joe
/
Published Date
October 6, 2022

‘Rooster, hang on!’ a traditional symbol in the nowadays context

Learn about the Borodianka Rooster, a ceramic pitcher which gained international attention as a symbol of Ukraine’s strength and spirit.

A black and white photograph of a person cooking.
Author
Joe
/
Published Date
September 21, 2022

Ten rural objects for your student kitchen

Discover a selection of cooking utensils from The MERL collection. Some will be more useful for your student kitchen than others!

Workers in the H&P factory.
Author
Joe
/
Published Date
September 14, 2022

Heritage bakes: three historical biscuit recipes from our collections

Explore and follow three heritage recipes for baking historical biscuits, including an original recipe by Huntley & Palmers.

Community members in The MERL garden.
Author
Joe
/
Published Date
August 19, 2022

Wild Being: how museums can care for health and wellbeing 

Learn about how we have worked with organisations across Reading to create museum opportunities that promote creativity and wellbeing.

An illustration by Sarah Hannis of labourers on a strawberry farm.
Author
Ollie Douglas
/
Published Date
July 8, 2022

Feeding the Nation: Serving us our strawberries

In time for Wimbledon 2022, learn about the many challenges that labourers and farmers face in growing strawberries.

Students visiting The MERL galleries
Author
Susanna Ivy
/
Published Date
July 6, 2022

Widening participation at The MERL

Read about our learning team’s work with schools as part of The MERL’s widening participation programme.