A year of closure in the Museum is a great excuse to get out and about in our van. A glorious sunny spell is even more of an incentive!
What better way to start the bank holiday weekend than standing in a busy street dressed as a cockroach? Here I am (on the right) with Education Trainee Liz, as a butterfly, and Education Officer Chris, in his fantastic dung beetle outfit. This was all in aid of the Oxfordshire Art Weeks event – the Summertown Street Parade. Our live cockroach handling and pinned insect displays fitted perfectly with this year’s minibeast theme and the costumes grabbed plenty of attention. I learnt a lot about life with enormous antennae – it certainly makes getting in and out of a gazebo pretty hard work!
Other attractions at the popular event included felt making, decorating tea towels and a minibeast costume parade, which was judged by our very own dung beetle!
On Tuesday, we took a few of our most dramatic specimens out to Cornbury Park for a warm up event for the Wilderness Festival. We’re excited to be taking part in the festival this August, so it was great to be able to visit the beautiful site and meet some of the people involved.
Here our famous cheetah, who usually greets museum visitors with a ‘Please Touch’ sign, is being unpacked for an afternoon in the sunshine. As you can see from the photo below, he looks quite at home in this stately setting!
Other specimens we took with us included this impressive cast of a T rex jaw. Chris is clearly very pleased to have an excuse to show it off!
Look out for us back at Cornbury Park for Wilderness 8th – 11th August. Of course, we’ll have plenty of stunning specimens to handle, along with family crafts to make… and wear!
Rachel Parle, Education Officer
More Than A Dodo 
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