Carlisle museum and art gallery hosts Easter Holiday pop-up

The art gallery and museum is currently closed to the public as it undergoes redevelopment works, with plans to reopen in the summer. 

However, the community hub has still been organising events in recent months, and has been entertaining children at the Lanes Shopping Centre during the Easter Holidays. 

On Monday, they held a Tullie Mouse Finger Puppets session between 1 and 4pm, before a meet the natural science curator and roman dig on Tuesday. 

Some of the goodies available inside the pop-up (Image: Jimmy Moorhouse)

Wednesday saw the visit of another costume curator in the morning, before a historical character drawing session in the afternoon. 

Historical characters included Mr and Mrs George Dixon, who were the last private occupants of Tullie House and are shown in a painting in the museum.

George Dixon was also the mayor of Carlisle on two separate occasions in the 1840s. 

Famous fossil hunter Mary Anning, and a medieval knight, were also present to speak with visitors, while children were encouraged to do drawings and fossil rubbings, while learning more about the history of Tullie and Carlisle.

There are several other events planned for later this week, including meeting the human history curator and a Victorian selfies and mystery objects session on Thursday. 

Friday will see members of the Carlisle United squad visit between 9.30 and 10.45, with the opportunity to learn more about the upcoming Carlisle United exhibition between 10 and 12, and a craft session in the afternoon. 

Visitors can even dress up as their favourite historical characters (Image: Jimmy Moorhouse)

Finally, on Saturday, the pop-up will involve a cardboard museum making session throughout the day. 

Sarah Forster, learning and engagement manager at Tullie said: "“Although we’ve been doing plenty of outreach since the museum closed for redevelopment, it’s wonderful to set up shop in one place for a full week. We’ve seen plenty of familiar faces, some new ones and had chance to tell people about the exciting work we have coming up. For example, Friday morning at the pop-up is all things Carlisle United with chance to learn more about the exhibition we’ll have upon reopening and even meet some players."