Visitors to the region’s newest museum are getting closer to a wide range of Northumbrian nature with the help of a £20,000 grant from a local developer.
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums has used the funding from the Banks Group, via its Banks Community Fund, to pay for electronic interactive equipment in four learning areas which are built to resemble wildlife observation hides.
The hides are now in use at the Natural Northumbria Gallery at the recently-opened Great North Museum:Hancock – and they are already proving popular with many of the 300,000 people that have visited the museum since it reopened in May.
The gallery aims to show visitors what is special about the region in terms of the animals and plants that inhabit our forests and shorelines, as well as enabling them to pay a ‘virtual visit’ to a number of north east locations.
Each of the gallery’s four discrete sections, which cover upland, lowland, forest and coastal locations, has its own learning area which enables visitors to learn about local wildlife, see the gallery displays of birds and animals that are relevant to each environment and use a virtual toolkit to identify what each species is.
Interactive touch-screen maps also show details of environments and habitats, and a range of family activities in each hide further helps to bring exhibits to life.
As well as being used by visitors to the museum, the hides will also be the setting for children and young people from across the region that take part in the Great North Museum’s educational learning programme for primary and secondary school pupils.
Mark Dowdall, environment and community director at Banks, adds: “The Natural Northumbria gallery clearly demonstrates the natural diversity and richness of the area in which we live, and the investigative hides provide an ideal location in which visitors can learn more about it.
“As a company that is committed to supporting and enhancing the north east environments in which we operate, we are very pleased and excited to be involved with such a prominent and valuable project.”
The Banks Community Fund is administered by the County Durham Foundation. Projects, community groups, or organisations looking for funding in the vicinity of a Banks Group development should contact Clare Johnson on 0191 383 0055.
