Pictured at the Eat in the Park Festival in Buxton in front of the museum and art gallery pop-up are, left to right: Derbyshire Museums Manager Martha Jasko-Lawrence, Museum Assistant Fay Dumighan and Assistant Collections Officer Nancy Wilson.
Since the our museum and art gallery closed on Terrace Road due to structural concerns in 2023, staff have set up at Buxton Library on Kents Bank Road, offering an interim service including events and exhibitions, and travelling around with the pop-up, as well as continuing to boost the museum’s presence online.
Visitors to Buxton’s Eat in the Park Festival last weekend were just some of the people over the summer to enjoy the pop-up, getting the chance to handle fossils, a mammoth’s tooth and a fossilised piece of plesiosaur skin, as well as having the opportunity to take selfies with the museum’s famous bear.
Youngsters visiting the pop-up at the Eat in the Park Festival got the chance to design their own prehistoric animal, and those that missed out can still take part and make their own creature at home.
We are continuing to work with partners to secure a new permanent home in the heart of the town for the museum, art gallery and the library.
Our Cabinet Member for Health and Communities Councillor Dawn Abbott said:
“Our museum and art gallery team have been working incredibly hard to ensure there are as many opportunities as possible for people to still enjoy all the museum has to offer while work continues to secure a new permanent home.
“Summer events have been perfect for them to take exhibits and artefacts out and about so people get the chance to see and handle them and ask questions. The pop-up has been really well received, as well as the content online which is proving as popular as ever.”
There are still opportunities to connect with the museum by visiting Buxton Library, with families having the chance to visit a real mermaid’s underwater garden and design their own version to win a prize every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the school holidays, as part of the library’s Summer Reading Challenge.
Another opportunity will be the 'Pop Up Museum at the Library;, as part of the Heritage Open Days Festival on Tuesday 16 September between 12 and 4pm, where people will be able to visit the museum team at Buxton Library, handle some real museum artefacts, say hello to the Buxton bear and ask any questions. Visitors can just drop in and no booking is needed. Find out more about the Heritage Open Days Festival.