Night at the Medical Museum 2

Guest blogger Lauren Ryall-Stockton, @thackraymuseum, spills all about techicolour wounds, home made life vests and an unusual use for treacle…

At the Thackray Museum in Leeds, big events do tend to sometimes have a gory or grizzly element to them. The story of medicine is not without its disgusting parts, indeed it is usually the disgusting parts which make for the best reading.

The next special event at the museum will be Night at the Medical Museum 2, run as part of Culture 24’s Museums at Night programme. The idea is that opening spaces up after hours can give a whole different impression of a place, and often it’s the chance to do something a little out of the ordinary. As such, the Thackray are taking the opportunity to put a little bit of life – and death – into the museum galleries and tell the story of medicine in a very interactive way.

As the Thackray Museum is housed in the old Leeds Union Workhouse building which is over 150 years old, it is naturally a place which has a lot of character. The old workhouse seemed like the perfect place to bring history alive, especially in the recreated Victorian street complete with its sights, sounds and rather disgusting smells from that era

Preparations are well and truly under way for this event. Scripts have been written, appropriate attire researched and staff briefed and rehearsed. So far this week I’ve been sewing a replica Titanic life vest for one of our characters. Rather depressingly, the one I’m making from calico and cardboard probably would have been about as effective as the ones actually used on the ship, most of which ended up snapping people’s necks as they hit the water.

Last week we spent a good few hours mixing various colours of fake blood to apply to costumes, and since the basis for much of it is treacle, it tastes surprisingly good. Today also heralded wound make-up training – 101 ways to make you appear seriously injured or diseased.

It’s not the strangest thing I’ve done here at the museum. When the decision was taken to get some live leeches into the museum galleries, I had the task of changing their water and putting them in the display jar. They are actually quite cute once they are safely locked away and can’t get to your blood. I haven’t been bitten yet, but they are here for a couple more months.

Night at the Medical Museum 2 is on the Saturday 19th May, 6pm-9pm, tickets are available by calling 0113 244 4343. It’s been planned with families in mind; kids will really enjoy talking to some of the weird characters who will be lurking in the galleries. We are keeping the gore to a tolerable level for those for whom guts and blood are an acquired taste. There’s even going to be family craft activities on the night for some of the younger visitors. And if you do pop over, please look out for the poor nurse from the Titanic. I hear that her life jacket doesn’t look very watertight.