Museum of St Albans Young Participants Day

Summer 1995

The Museum of St Albans organised this event as part of their project to encourage children to study small natural things. The Quekett members who participated in this contribution to the Club’s microscopy outreach programme were Vaughan Dodge, Ven Dodge, Bryan Tabor, Rodney Williams, Tony Dutton and David Nellist.

Ven and Vaughan Dodge had made two large display panels with the headings ‘Butterfly scales – under a hand lens and under a microscope’ and ‘Looking at sands, under a hand lens and a microscope’. The illustrations were 6×4 inch glossy colour prints with minimal text, to make the whole very easily understood and pictorially attractive to members of the public, young or elderly, with no prior experience of taking a particular interest in “Looking at small things”.

The panels are of cloth-covered card, hinged to allow the outer sides to fold into the centre to be self-protecting when packaged for dispatch by post. They are also self-standing when placed on a table for display. They are available for members to borrow when arranging local displays or exhibits on microscopy, together with a quantity of hand magnifiers, samples of sand which include some forams, and pieces of butterfly wing in plastic boxes of the type that are used to hold eyepiece micrometer scales, hence the specimens are captive and can be handled without damage and can be preserved for further use.

The members found the event very rewarding, and in the afternoon session it was not easy to persuade the children it was time to go home!

Bryan Tabor has kindly provided the following photographs:

Members with children, 1995 St AlbansMembers with children

Members with children, 1995 St AlbansMembers with children

Members with children, 1995 St AlbansMembers with children

Pond dipping with children, 1995 St AlbansPond dipping

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