So I decided to record some of the delightful conversations I have with my son including the following:

Mylo:”Mummy, I’m going to make a machine that you put water and poo and playdough in and it makes poo and wee. Then it’s going to poo on your head. ”

Me: “But Mylo, if you put food and water into you, your body makes poo and wee. Are you a poo and wee machine?”

Mylo (looking put out and cross): “No mummy, it’s going to be a machine I make that you put playdough and poo and water in and then it’s going to poo on your head!”

Amazing spoken word piece by Holly McNish:

I love the gallery, it’s a great space to photograph in. I’ve included all my favorite images here as there were too many to add into the previous post.

So I visited the New Art Gallery in Walsall about 5 weeks before the time of writing and have only got the chance to to my write up. Although my recollections are a little hazy, I luckily know the gallery and its collections really well. Nothing has really changed since I used to visit regularly in my early twenties and the short review is; go and take a look, it’s really excellent.

Luckily I took lots of photos of the space and what we did, to jog my memory.

This visit was also made with Mylo, and so our time in the space was dictated a lot by what he wanted to look at and had the span of concentration for. What I was really so pleased to see, was that unlike Nottingham Contemporary, the staff and rooms were extremely child friendly. We spent about 30 minutes running around one of the galleries taking photos and were never asked to move or change what we were doing – Kids in Museums indeed.

Upon entering the first room is a huge double height space that encompasses the information desk and the shop off to one side. Off it is the Costa Coffee, the only change I would have preferred not to have taken place. The other side is the children’s gallery, a playroom dedicated to multi sensory explorations of art that ranged from dressing up clothes through to an huge xylophone. Many pieces of artwork were skillfully referenced and a few originals were on display. Thought provoking questions were asked alongside many chances to create artwork within the space. We spent a good 45 minutes playing together before moving on.

The main galleries are accessed up a large staircase that stretches around the edge of the entrance. Walking up it was really memorable; I used to live just down  the road in Great Barr and visited regularly when I was at uni in Birmingham between 2000 and 2003. The building has lost none of its impact, the sight lines, dimensions and overall design is excellent, with spaces to linger at appropriate points. Travelling around the gallery really feels like you are on a journey. In the upper galleries there are staircases, twists and turns, with unexpected delights around corners.

I won’t spoil too much of the actual artwork other than to tell you a little bit about how it it put together. The gallery houses the Garmin-Ryan Collection, with pieces from prominent artists in the 20th Century such as Lucien Freud and Jacob Epstein. Painting, prints and sculpture can all be seen and everything is beautifully curated – I spent as much time looking at the painting frames as I did at the actual artwork.

A number of temporary exhibitions are on show, the current favourite being a jointly developed piece with Tate, who have paired pieces from their own collections with those from Walsall by theme, artist or subject, and some great interpretation along the way! The finalists of a drawing competition were installed on the upper floor galleries, which also features a roof garden with expansive views over the city-centre.

Like I said, the staff were really understanding and didn’t bat an eyelid when Mylo was running about and really playing with the space available, which made a huge difference to the enjoyment of our visit. We were both able to experience the gallery and the artwork in our own way. I felt able to take a good look whilst he darted about and hid round corners when he had enough of a particular section. Small considerations like the inclusion of a step-up at the basins in the toilets add the extra touches that show little people have been thought about.

For me the only issue was a lack of place to get a proper lunch. Costa does snacks and sandwiches, which i find pretty poor value and quite unfilling.  Our issue was solved by a very helpful member of staff who directed us up the road towards the Leather Museum which had a brilliant, great-value cafe serving soup and jacket potatoes. To be honest, I would have stayed and looked round there too other than for the fact that I wanted to do the Art Gallery as there was some cracking activities on for children when we passed through.

I spent quite a bit of time lingering within the gallery as Mylo couldn’t be persuaded to look at art all the time. The gallery has picture windows looking out in all directions which we used to sit and describe what we saw. The beauty of the gallery building is simply that the architecture is preeminently usable, not just to view art but for many things. I think that the main difference between my past visited and this one was that I had not appreciated that about the building. Travelling without children allows you to focus solely on one thing. Travelling with kids means you have to work so much harder to get around and entertain them. The small differences in how easy this is make a big impact.

Overall the New Walsall Art Gallery ticks every box for me. Even though I have visited many times before, going as a mum have me a completely  different point-of-view on the collection and venue. Anyone living within the Midlands or visiting the area should make time for a trip in my opinion.

So I’ve been in Bristol since Friday afternoon attending the Open Data Unconference in the Watershed building on the city’s floating harbour. The weather has been beautiful and I was lucky enough to be travelling with a friend who knows the city well. I’ll hopefully get more time to write about the event and also my visit the the Arnolfini, (nominated as a Museum of the Year finalist), but here are a few photos in the meantime of just what I have been up to…

So it’s been a bit quiet on here for the last couple of months. I’ve had a pretty busy time off-screen in real life which has meant I’ve not been able to devote as much as time as I had hoped to updating my blog and website.

In a nutshell childcare has been patchy on account of our childminder having a major operation. I’ve had the flue which has put me in bed for 2 of the last 4 weeks and I am still coughing my guts up. This is the beginning of the busy period when my partner can be away for 2 weeks at a time which is hard when you are by yourself with a little one.

Saying that we have had some real fun too. We visited Walsall Art Gallery, a real blast from the past which I am so please I went back to. I used to live a little way away from Walsall when I went to uni’. Driving round was great – I spotted a pub I used to do bar work in and had completely forgotten about. Lots of memories to be had. We also had the great news that Mylo has secured a place in the local outstanding Primary School which is only a 10 minute walk away. His nursery currently is a 30 minute drive away as we wanted him to benefit from a Montessori based learning experience for his early years.  I have to say that that after doing the doing the driving up and down the A50 for the last 9 months I am really pleased that we will be able to retire the care for the school run and get some fresh air instead.

Hopefully once things have settled down into a bit more of a routine again I will be able to plan a few more visits to local museums and might even get a chance to write them up here.

I’m visiting Bridlington next week and am really looking forward to see if I can squeeze in a visit to the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough to have a look around their archaeology space.

I finally got round to finishing the Human Centred Design course run by IDEO.org through the Novoed platform.

Despite a few teething problems in the delivery of the course the content was excellent and a really great introduction into HCD and the work of IDEO generally. The basis of the experience was not sitting learning from videos and commenting on forums. Instead participants are encouraged to form working groups to go through the exercises and explore a real world problem.  There are a few hiccups that would make the course far better to take if they could be ironed out, however IDEO ask for feedback at various points in the process and you would hope considering the ethos that they would take on board anything salient.

Considering that over 10,000 people took the course in the single cohort that I joined it really is a massive undertaking and a great achievement when the content is delivered free with a certificate of participation upon completion.

The work of IDEO creates a great basis for this; the social nature of their projects means that any groups with a good idea have a chance to move forward and progress it towards a real-life solution. Work submitted is also synthesised into IDEO’s organisational thinking, so it is great to know that what you are doing might make a change somewhere.

I worked with two friends who I met through the Global Ram Jam weekend, Jean Mutton and Simon Redding. Both are experienced service designer who have an interest in LEAN business.

I’ve included the final presentation we put together for our project solution. I hope that you like enjoy it. If you’re interested in learning more about Human Centred Design or LEAN, I recommend you check out the range of courses available from IDEO and +ACUMEN which can be found here.

Every so often you have the pleasure to meet someone who really stands out from the crowd in terms of their approach and attitude to living. One such person crossed my path at the last Lunar21 event in November 2015, looking at the ‘power of co-creation‘.

His name was Nic Turner and he was sitting directly behind me in the audience, asking insightful questions. I took the chance to grab his contact details and since then have met three times. Nic originates from the same neck-of-the-woods as me, Sutton Coldfield; in the strange lands that are the East Midlands where I now reside hearing the accent of God’s own country is a treat, as were the varied and creative topics we covered.

Nic has specialised in creative change management and business consultancy, working for a company called ‘Now Here‘, hired by some of the largest brands in the world to help them develop innovation. Luckily for me, he also lives just up the road in Derbyshire and was looking for opportunities to give something back to his local community. Nic has led the Lunar21 team on a journey that we are still following, and all immensely enjoying. He seems to have jumped on board for the ride, which we are all looking forward to.

Nic’s latest project is the development of the-land, and eight acre site in Derbyshire which is held for retreats throughout the year.

I’ve included a video below of Nic speaking about leadership in the 21st Century, however, as I am discovering, there are many facets to him.

It is so nice to meet people who expand out your world view.  I spent a long time lamenting the fact that my career seemed to be over, when I got ill. I think this was a healthy process to go through, however in order to grow you need to move forward. Nic’s philosophy is one of finding the value in your moment, wherever and however that might be. It is a truthful one – as I am finding out. if you can be open to opportunity they reveal themselves to you every day.

Two weeks ago I volunteered to be a book at the Derby Human Library, a great idea where people describe themselves as a book title and others can book them out to ‘read’, or find our more about a person who might otherwise be subject to stereotypes.

I first can across the idea when Vanessa Boon, the organiser tweeted about the library, asking for volunteers who would be books. I have to say that I was intrigued and agreed to contribute across a number of subjects including ‘Autistic’, ‘Mental Illness’ and ‘Bisexual’. I am quite open about the first as I consider it to be a characteristic of my personality. I talk about my history of mental illness where appropriate as I genuinely feel that there is a still a great deal of stigma around discussing it as a subject, despite the fact that many people I know have close friend or family who has experienced quite serious mental health themselves. Unfortunately it is never brought into the public unless someone else starts the conversation.

My sexuality is something that I have generally kept private. I have known I was bi’ since I was about 14, and feel part of a distinct group, seperate from gay or straight. However prejudice is still rife, from both sides of the fence. Many people consider the fluidity of those who are attracted to both sexes to mean ambiguity, or even worse that you are easy and happy to sleep with anyone individual. I have not in the past been happy discussing it with work colleagues for example.

Anyway, the day was an amazing experience. Of 27 visits that were made to the library I spoke with 5 people, and it surprised me the topics that people were interested in; 3 for bisexual, 2 for mental illness and none for autistic. For the sake of confidentiality I cannot of course mention any details of the conversations, but simply add that the breadth of human experience is a beautiful thing and to be able to plug into it in a different way for a little while is an amazing experience.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Human Library, there is a Facebook page for the UK  and also the Derbyshire organiser has a Facebook group to let people keep up to date with news. You can always contact Vanessa Boon on Twitter – I’m sure she’s be happy to answer questions.

Happy reading 🙂

So one of the challenges I set myself was to visit as many curated heritage, arts or culture experiences as possible to develop my professional response to these and gain access to a wide range of experiences – within and without areas that I find of personal interest. We used to live in Burton and I recently watched an amazing programme about the history of the river Trent in Burton and it’s involvement with the brewing industry so I decided to give the National Brewery Museum a go.

We visited on a Tuesday, so it was fairly quiet. The Brewery Centre was a paid-for experience. I checked out the reviews of Tripadvisor in advance, which were generally positive. I took Mylo with me as the presentation seemed fairly family orientated.

The reception was manned by a very pleasant and friendly member of staff. He talked us through the basic information, let me keep my bag in reception and directed us towards the stables.

The first place we visited was the Shire horses. The set up was nice. Original looking stables containing too Shires, Walter and Jed.  There was a step-up for younger children to see in however it was still quite low and I had to pick Mylo up in the end for him to really engage with the animals, as the height of the barrier was still about 4 feet in the air.

Now,before I go any further I just want to put my opinions into context. The museum obviously has access to some amazing artifacts and archives from it’s time brewing beer. It has made an amazing contribution to shaping the town of Burton and played a pivotal role in industry and commerce.  Molson Coors is still a major employer in the town. I worked for Molson about 10 years ago and as such I know they have very high standards. I had an expectation for the Brewery Centre experience, particularly with an entry price of £8.95 for an adult and £3.95 for a 3 year old. I suppose putting this into context, claiming they have over 220,000 visitors a year ans assuming most of these are going to be paying adults, that is still nearly £2 million of turnover.

Unfortunately it was a real disappointment.

The  layout of the experience consisted of two buildings with some assorted outbuilding, a yard. The inside areas consisted of an exhibition about brewing generally, and a second about the Bass company. There was the horses complex, with a number of carts and some displays about the horses and their work. There was a vintage vehicles section, containing fire-engines, trucks and  steam engines. A dedicated steam area showed original engines that were used to power the plants. There was a modern brewery area with current equipment, which,I guess, was brewing beer. Somewhere there was a chance to try some of the stuff, but no-one offered me any, nor did I see any sign to direct me where to ask.

Once inside the complex I couldn’t find one member of staff beyond volunteers in civvie clothing working with the horses or vehicles. The main toilets were outside; not the best in February.

There was some amazing stuff on show. The images and wealth of information was broad, but it just wasn’t presented very well. Inside the first exhibition we visited, off the reception, the presentation boards were fixed to the walls with their tops nine to ten feet of the ground. The text was small. It would have been impossible for children to read, and difficult to view for any length of time.

Much of the information was about the technicalities of brewing beer, which is fine. However the presentation of the facts was quite sterile, particularly when juxtaposed against picture after picture of the workforce at the museum. You wanted to know who these people were and what were their stories, especially in relation to the history of the town.



I felt that there was a general feeling of lifelessness and simply being unloved, and even ill considered about the experience and curation.  Exhibits were piled up in front of the information boards, making it hard to take in either. Everything needed a really good clean, some of the items were filthy. Some real low points included the childrens’ activity area of the top floor of the Bass museum that contained nothing, the cordoned off area in the steam room because of wet paint, which blocked most of the viewing area and many many instances of where electrical equipment simply didn’t work.

We saw one stand with an ‘out-of’order’ notice on and came across probably another 8-10 which had faults, from audio recordings that didn’t switch on, to the lighting of the Burton scale model failing to work.  The real shock for me was the full size model steam engine that is all but hidden behind a 300 person marquee that is permanently erected. We nearly missed it on our way out – a real shame because it was a beautiful piece of engineering, and included he director’s private coach which was beautifully finished..

An audio guide was referenced on the way around, however we were not offered a chance to take it up in reception. There was no map of the venue, nothing supplementary to take around to guide you.

There were some positives –  such as the horses and their staff, who were all very friendly and it was great to be able to get close to such large and gentle animals. Also, the model of Burton town centre as it was in the turn of the 19th Century was amazing to see. I lived in Burton for 3 years and didn’t realise how much the centre had changed over the last 100 years. Nearly all the areas devoted now to retail and leisure were given over to support the brewing industry. I appreciate now, really appreciate, why so many people lamented the passing of British Industry. It was stupendous, and if each town had it’s own trade or industry in the way I suspect they did there was certainly a huge amount of skill, and jobs lost.

Overall, it was okay, but nothing special, which is such a shame. The whole experience could be so much better. It is as if the company running it has taken the lowest common denominator for what a brewery museum should be. As the experience was centred around brewing in Burton so much more could be done to link the subject to the history of the town, the workers, the people and the social changes of the times. There must be very few places where the main employer and town industry of the last 150 years was coupled with a population who could probably just about still remember the exhibits, company and subjects in the museum. Nothing was shown of that though. There was no mention of the stories of the workers beyond a few snippets.



I think to include the living and memories of the workers would truly bring the exhibition to life. If the experience was free I would say that it would be worth checking out, but otherwise, unless you are a interested in brewing or Burton, I would give it a miss.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I made the visit and after reflecting and finding some more reviews online I understand that the venue hold regular family events and conduct guided tours. I can imagine these would greatly improve the overall interaction between the Brewing experience and it’s audiences, however this isn’t enough for me when I visited and received pretty poor value for money.

Full gallery of images below: