Friday 31 May 2013 The sights, sounds and symbols of Leeds were on display at Leeds City Museum at half-term during a special event to celebrate our great city. ‘We Love Leeds’ was a free family fun day organised in partnership with The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL). The early birds were greeted at the museum steps by Ronnie the Rhino and the sunny sound of the Silver Steel Sparrows, who later moved their steel pans indoors for visitors to learn how to play. Other workshop sessions reflected Leeds’ industrial heritage, from engineering to aviation, with visitors learning how aeroplanes fly during a paper plane workshop courtesy of Leeds Bradford International Airport, and recreating famous Leeds landmarks with marshmallows and kebab sticks under the watchful eye of John Bagshaw, head of design technology at GSAL. John said: “Leeds has many amazing buildings, including those under construction, and I didn’t know half of them until I started researching this activity! I hope it’s helped the children to an understanding of the way things were built and an appreciation of our city’s great buildings.” The museum’s arena, with its giant map of the Leeds Metropolitan District, housed a variety of craft activities and face painting based on famous Yorkshire emblems such as the Yorkshire Rose, the Leeds owls and the Leeds United crest. The museum’s rich range of Leeds resources were showcased with a choice of themed tours – a gory history of Leeds or inventions through the ages. Jason Fisher from Farnley came to the event with partner Tracy Burns and children Liam, Avril and Billy Turner. Leeds born and bred, Jason said: “We’re proud to live in Leeds and always enjoy coming to the museum where the children love the interactive Leeds exhibition.” Avril said: “I liked the face painting and chose a butterfly because it’s colourful and reminds me of Tropical World.” ‘We love Leeds’ was the third in a series of fun and educational workshops in the school holidays run through a partnership between Leeds City Museum and GSAL. In October half-term the theme will be ‘We Love Stories’. Pictured: Aria with a Leeds owl and a Yorkshire rose General News
