Fun activities at holiday clubs for children this summer

The Overton museum is offering the themed activity sessions for groups - such as scouts, brownies and playschemes - that are running holiday clubs during the school break.

The weekly themes will be linked to the museum’s new Heroes and Heroines exhibition and will be looking at the different roles of heroes in the mining industry, from pit nurses to inventors and rescue teams.

The exhibition, which will be on display until December 31, celebrates the extraordinary lives of the heroes and heroines in the industry.

In addition to the new workshops, youngsters will also be able to go 140m underground, go on a nature trail and meet resident pit ponies Eric and Ernie and giant Clydesdale horse Finn.

The education team will be running the sessions from 11am to 11.45am Monday to Friday from July 25 to September 2.

The first week of the holidays will kick off with a everyday heroes theme celebrating miners, pit brow lasses and ponies. Children will be able to make a pit pony puppet, design a trophy and discover more about the heroes and heroines.

Pit nurses and the medical team will be the theme from August 1 to 5, when children will be helped to make a peg doll nurse and to create rescue and medical kits using junk modelling.

The theme will be inventors and inventions of mining, with children encouraged to design their own inventions and to make a lamp, from August 8 to 12.

The bravery of rescue teams will be the theme from August 15 to 19 and 22 to 26, and remembering our heroes and heroines, where children can design their own clay memorial, will run from August 29 to September 2.

The crafts will cost £1 per child, with a minimum charge of £10. The workshops, which must be booked in advance, can cater for up to 30 children. Email [email protected] to book.

Groups that want to take part in an underground tour will have to pay £3 per head refundable deposit for a pit-check.

For information about summer events at the museum, visit www.ncm.org.uk or call 01924 848806.