Record number of visitors at the Old Operating Theatre
While museum and gallery visitor figures showed a general downward trend in 2007, the Old Operating Theatre Museum have just announced a record number of visitors for the year. Their total of 31,244 presents a fifty per cent increase on figures for the previous year, and a twenty per cent rise on the previous highest number of visitors recorded (25,993 in 2004). This remarkable growth highlights the small, independent museum’s immense popularity.
A lot of this success can be attributed to the passion of the Old Operating Theatre's staff, led by Curator, Karen Howell, who created an entirely new museum in the Crypt of St Thomas’ Church, allowing continued access to the museum’s collection and education and public events programmes. To highlight this the "Tales From The Crypt" exhibition won the Museums and Heritage Award for Excellence 2007 in the category of Project on a Limited Budget.
Other successes include expanded collections, a new children’s area, and an increase in hands-on activities to make the museum exciting and entertaining for a much wider range of age groups. The education programme was also improved in 2007 with the completion of the "Our Blood" resource pack for GCSE students, generously funded by the Foyle Foundation, and grants were received from the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust and MLA London to improve access to the museum.
For details visit: www.thegarret.org.uk
Some Comments from Visitors in 2007
"The best £4 odd I have spent in ages!"
"Can I live here?"
"Gruesome and fascinating at the same time!"
"Wonderful place – hands-on, exactly how a museum should be. Superb!!"
"Out of 10, 10. It was wicked. Educational, cool, soooo gorey."
"It was really fun mixing the herbs!"
"Fantastic, highlight of my trip to London."
"A truly inspirational place to appreciate medicine today and to imagine what it was like in the past."
"Amazing and wonderfully preserved, a glimpse into the past."
"Too often museums are overly sterile and dumbed down – this place is everything it should be – quirky, unusual, fun, fascinating, so interesting!"