Weekly What's On: 2nd to 8th December

MERL Annual Lecture: Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP ‘in conversation’ with Sir David Bell, University of Reading Vice-Chancellor
Thursday 5th December
7pm, Great Hall, London Road Campus
Free. Tickets in advance or on the door (Doors open 6pm. Bar and MERL ‘pop-up’ shop available)
Click here for details

Toddler time
Friday 6th December, 10-11am, £2 per child, drop-in
Suitable for families with children aged 2-4
Come along to the Museum with your little ones and enjoy rhymes, songs and craft activities. This week we’ll be making super snowman mobiles.

Victorian Christmas family tour
Sunday 8th December, 2.30-4pm
£3 per child (includes refreshments for accompanying adults)
Booking required
It’s Christmas in 1882 and the Palmer family are spending their first Christmas at their new home, Easthorpe house, with their staff. You are invited to come along and meet Lord and Lady Palmer, their Butler Jerrome, House Keeper Mrs Gough and other members of the household staff. Visitors will learn about Victorian Christmas traditions, play Victorian party games, enjoy seasonal refreshments and make their own Victorian Christmas card. Don’t forget to dress up in your Victorian costume! Watch our trailer on Youtube!

Huntley & Palmers: a Christmas selection
25 Nov 2013- 5 Jan, 2014
Free, drop-in, normal museum opening times
This seasonal display in the Staircase hall of the Palmers’ former family home, shows off some of the visual delights in the University’s extensive archive of local biscuit manufacturer, Huntley & Palmers

Collecting the countryside: 20th century rural cultures
Temporary exhibition space
Free, drop in, normal museum opening times
Since 2008 the Museum of English Rural Life has been adding even more objects to its collection, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme, in order to represent each decade of the last century. (Find out more in Curator, Isabel Hughes’ recent post) This exhibition gives a taste of what has been acquired and challenges visitors to suggest the modern-day objects that the Museum needs to collect for the future. The exhibition will help the Museum to explore how to incorporate more recent histories and representations of the English countryside into its displays as part of the new Our Country Lives project.