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Bumper year for museums - 05/02/2010

More than half a million people visited Hull City Council's museums and art gallery in 2009 - the best visitor figures since 1994.

Staff at the eight free museums and art gallery believe the increase in visitors has been helped by focusing on creating and attracting the right events and exhibitions to keep people coming back for more.

The 500,000 visitors equates to everyone in Hull visiting one of the council's museums or galleries twice in that year.

In feedback from customers, 85 per cent rated the museums and gallery as excellent or good.

Some of the success stories include:

- the Lauren Child 'Greendrops and Moonsquirters' exhibition that ran for eight weeks during which 14,776 people discovered the world of children's TV favourites Charlie & Lola, Clarice Bean and That Pesky Rat at the interactive exhibition

- the Victorian Christmas at the Museums Quarter on 28 November attracted 4,676 visitors who stepped back in time to enjoy Santa's grotto, carols, storytelling, Victorian characters, Punch and Judy, craft activities and festive food

- And the Time Troopers children's club - a free activities club for under-16s that runs every other Saturday - now has 1,200 members

Portfolio holder for image and culture Councillor John Robinson said: "This really is an excellent result for the museums and gallery, with them attracting visitors from inside and outside the immediate area.

"It has been a year of successful events and exhibitions and shows that Hull has a lot to offer in the way of culture which can make a big difference to people's lives through learning and leisure and also to the economy by attracting visitors to the city centre."

In feedback, visitors to the Greendrops and Moonsquirters exhibition who brought their children said they felt their children had learned new skills and had left wanting to read more books and stories.

Other popular events included the Remembrance Weekend event at Streetlife Museum, where more than 2,000 visitors experienced the 1940s by meeting soldiers, sailors and wardens who took them through what happened in an air raid; Gladiators Day in the Museums Quarter where 1,178 people explored weapons and armour from the prehistoric to the modern era; and Big Bus Day where 4,704 enjoyed a family day with examples of buses past and present, face painting, the East Yorkshire Brass Band and free open-top bus tours of the city.

Portfolio holder for image and culture Councillor John Robinson said: "This really is an excellent result for the museums and gallery, with them attracting visitors from inside and outside the immediate area.

"It has been a year of successful events and exhibitions and shows that Hull has a lot to offer in the way of culture which can make a big difference to people's lives through learning and leisure and also to the economy by attracting visitors to the city centre."

In feedback, visitors to the Greendrops and Moonsquirters exhibition who brought their children said they felt their children had learned new skills and had left wanting to read more books and stories.

Other popular events included the Remembrance Weekend event at Streetlife Museum, where more than 2,000 visitors experienced the 1940s by meeting soldiers, sailors and wardens who took them through what happened in an air raid; Gladiators Day in the Museums Quarter where 1,178 people explored weapons and armour from the prehistoric to the modern era; and Big Bus Day where 4,704 enjoyed a family day with examples of buses past and present, face painting, the East Yorkshire Brass Band and free open-top bus tours of the city.

The museums and gallery team is working hard to try to beat this excellent result. The next event is the ever popular Ferens Open exhibition opening on Friday 12 February.

Simon Green, assistant head of Culture and Lifestyle said: "This excellent result reflects the hard work and commitment of every one of our museums team. We are privileged to be guardians of the city's unique museum collections and our aim is to share our enthusiasm with everyone."

The year of events and exhibitions has been supported by funding from the Renaissance Programme - the Museums, Libraries and Archives'programme to transform England's regional museums and help deliver results in education, learning, community development and economic regeneration.



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