VISIT THE SHOP

What's New?

Thursday September 23rd, Brighton Street Party
Friday May 14th, 2010 - Train Running Evening
NEW WINTER NEWSLETTER - March 2010
Exciting changes taking place at the Museum 2010
Mystic Creeping Snails???
January Sale in the Museum Shop
Train Running Event - Saturday Nov. 14 - 'Race to the North'
Museum achieves ACCREDITED status
Sunday August 16th - Fairytale puppet show 'The Queen Bee'
Museum to release a CD of Chris Littledale's unique 'railway sounds'
Museum becomes a Visitor Information Point
Special talk - Friday March 6th - '18 years at the Toy Museum'
Train Running Day - November fun for all ages
Trafalgar Street Bridge improvements well under way!
Train Running Event: May 3, 2008
Spring Holiday Treasure Hunt
Friday Dec 14th - 'A Victorian Christmas Magic Lantern Show'
Dec 7th - 'Transports of Delight', an evening of music and entertainment
Dec 1st Train Running event - 'The French Connection'
Fairground Exhibition open thru October 31
Museum Volunteers Wanted
June 2007 - Tony Robinson visits the Museum
'Hop on a Bus' Exhibit (May - June 2007) opens
Easter holiday events - Smugglers Week and Music Hall Night
December 2006: A sad goodbye to Claire, our Curator
Dec Music Night: An enjoyable winter's evening of music and fun
Falmer High School art exhibition: Nov 28, 2006 - Jan 2007
'Making History Fun' campaign, 2006-2007
November Train Running Event - Fun for all ages
Exciting New Partnership with Falmer High School
Whitehawk Children's Centre Opening, Sept. 28, 2006

News Archive

Click to read past stories

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BRIGHTON STREET PARTY, 7 - 9pm
Thursday September 23, 2010

Join us in Trafalgar Street under the bridge at Brighton
Station to witness the celebrity unveiling of the stunning
Pullman Wall Mural and the Glamour of Brighton exhibition
within the entrance area of the Brighton Toy and Model Museum.
This event is hosted by the Brighton Toy and Model Museum and the 5BEL Trust.

There will be LIVE special sound effects for all forms of transport and more besides...

The Brighton Toy and Model Museum and the 5BEL Trust are celebrating the eagerly anticipated return of a much loved Brighton icon – the world’s only all electric Pullman train – the elegant Art Deco style Brighton Belle. The 5BEL Trust’s £1 million restoration by professional railway engineers is to ensure the train’s return, in Olympic year 2012, to the mainline on the 80th anniversary of its construction.

The dramatic near life size Mural depicts the train drawn up at a platform in Brighton Station. The windows of the Pullman come alive with contemporary figures from the train’s heyday.

Within the Museum, the new Glamour of Brighton exhibition depicts Brighton’s history through to the present, featuring a series of spectacular exhibits from the Museum collections.

The base of the exhibition display has a 3D relief of the Victorian cast iron Brighton Seafront Railings and those organisations, whose generosity with money and “in kind” help has facilitated these “public benefit projects”, are being acknowledged with placards hanging from the handrail.

What will go on display in the new cases?

Major renovations over the past year at the internationally renowned Museum include new showcases, spectacular new exhibits and new world class “green” energy efficient museum display lighting. The photos below show some of the recent
improvements including the Brunel bridge and new displays.

The Brunel bridge

Looking through the arches...

One of the beautiful new display cabinets

The top arch

We hope you'll come to the museum soon and see the improvements for yourself!!!

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TRAIN RUNNING EVENING
FRIDAY MAY 14TH

As part of the 'Museums at Night' initiative, the
Museum held a special May Train Running event.
Everyone enjoyed a magical evening of trains, toys
and fun in the newly renovated Museum!

Visitors were able to see the many improvements and
changes that we've been working so hard on over the last
several months and special trains were running on our
large layouts.

WINTER NEWSLETTER AVAILABLE - MARCH 2010

Get up to date with our colourful new 20-page (!!!)
WINTER NEWSLETTER! (pdf document)

BIG CHANGES UNDERFOOT AT THE MUSEUM

It's been a truly exciting time at the Museum and
major changes have been taking place over the last
several months. A six month work development
programme kicked off in October 2009 and
improvements include the installation of new
showcases, upgraded lighting, better signage and
even the creation of a much-needed Resource Room!

The Museum is hard at work setting up new displays
and incorporating newly acquired exhibits into its
splendid collections. There are new Trustees, Sponsors
and Volunteers on board and it's never been a better
time to join us.

Read all the details in our 20-page Winter Newsletter
Click here to download the pdf from our friends
at www.wessexnetworks.com.

MYSTIC CREEPING SNAILS???

Founding Museum Trustee Michael Gilkes is to be
congratulated on his excellent article in the March 2010
issue of the Collectors Gazette on animated toys. Find his
contribution under the headline 'Mystic creeping Snails!'.
This full page article included a panel giving details
of the Museum opening times and admissions fees, helping
raise awareness of the Museum.

JANUARY SALE

Take advantage of reduced prices on a variety of
vintage toys and books in the Museum shop!

Entrance to the shop is absolutely free so pop by
for a browse and a bargain.. . Don't miss out!

TRAIN RUNNING EVENT - 'RACE TO THE NORTH'
SATURDAY NOV. 14, 2009

Layouts running 11 am - 1:00 pm and 2:00 -4:00 pm

Join us here at the Museum to see '0' and '00' gauge
trains from all eras; from the pre-grouping of independent
companies through to the glorious streamliner era of the
1930's to today's high speed electric trains.

Normal museum admission prices apply
Admission includes entry to the Museum

This event is being run in collaboration with
The Train Collectors Society

MUSEUM ACHIEVES MLA ACCREDITATION STATUS

The Museum is proud to announce that it has been awarded
ACCREDITED status byt the Museums, Libraries and Archives
Council. Gaining the award is a great achievement and
demonstrates that our Museum has met the MLA's nationally
agreed standards.

 

PUPPET SHOW - SUNDAY AUG 16TH, 2009
'The Queen Bee' - a fairytale puppet show

Little folk and the young at heart delighted in this most
beautiful new production of the traditional Grimms' tale,
faithfully told with the accompaniment of a live musician.

The production was brought to you by the
Brighton Toy Museum and 'The Elfin Grove'.

SOON TO BE RELEASED...
A CD of CHRIS LITTLEDALE'S AMAZING RAILWAY SOUND SHOW...

If you've been lucky enough to see Chris do a live perfomance
of his railway sounds, you'll know that there's absolutely
nothing like it! After all these years, the Museum is finally
producing a special CD, which will be on sale in the shop shortly.

The Museum has recently become an authorised
VISITOR INFORMATION POINT!

Brighton Toy and Model Museum is now working
in partnership with VisitBrighton, providing visitors
to the city with information on what to see and what
to do locally. A selection of free city maps and
literature is already available in the shop area.
The Museum is ideally located to welcome visitors
arriving at the station and heading down into
the North Laine, towards the Pavillion and seafront.

SPECIAL EVENT - FRIDAY MARCH 6TH, 7:30pm
Hangleton/ Blatchington Mill, Holmes Ave, Hove

'18 Years at the Brighton Toy Museum'
Michael Gilkes gave an illustrated talk
assisted by Chris Littledale, the Museum Director.

The talk spanned the entire life of the Museum, from
its early beginnings to the present. The evening
was complete with amazing railway sounds!

TRAIN RUNNING DAY - SATURDAY NOVEMBER 15, 2008

Sat. Nov. 15th was a special Train Running Day at the Museum
and visitors of all ages came to enjoy the spectacle of our
rare vintage trains running on the beautiful '0' and '00'
gauge layouts. Watch this space for future events.

TRAFALGAR STREET IMPROVEMENTS WELL UNDER WAY!

We're absolutely delighted to see that the Trafalgar St.
bridge undercroft improvement project is making excellent
progress!!! The initiative includes pavement widening in
brick, relighting, cleaning and better signage. New paving has
been laid already and future improvements promise to highlight
the historical significance of the undercroft structure as well
as making it an attractive, welcoming entrance to the Laine.

Brighton and Hove Council, Railway Heritage Trust,
Southern, Network Rail and others are involved in this
quality improvement. Watch for future progress.

SPRING TRAIN RUNNING EVENT: MAY 3, 2008

On Saturday May 3, visitors to the Museum were able
to view numerous exotic, vintage '0' gauge trains
running on the Museum's spectacular layout.
Watch this space for future events and dates.

SPECIAL HOLIDAY TREASURE HUNT
Monday April 7th - Saturday April 19th

George the Steiff Bear has planned a fantastic Spring
Holiday Treasure Hunt for the whole family to enjoy!!!
He'd like to have a party with all his friends in the Museum
but he can't remember where they all live... Can you help
him out? Visitors to the Museum can participate for a
pound and there are plenty of prizes to be won!
Don't miss out! Normal admission prices apply.

Hope to see you there!

ON SAT DEC 7, 2007, GUESTS ENJOYED AN ENCHANTING
EVENING OF MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT...

Print out the poster to help us advertise the event

'Transports of Delight' was yet another magical evening at
the Museum. Music and entertainment were accompanied by a
fully licensed bar and the fun continued till late...

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On Friday Dec. 14th, Peppers Ghost presented:

'A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS
MAGIC LANTERN EXTRAVAGANZA'

This was truly an evening of entertainment that took us back!
Live music and narration accompanied the slides, bringing
the images to life and making the evening intimate and
enchanting for all ages.

The show featured historic slides of Brighton, railways and
lifeboats as well as numerous narrated vignettes, projected
optical patterns (which were activated by turning a crank!)
and 2-frame animated slides. Many of the historic slides were
hand-tinted and others (like the Punch and Judy sequence) were
illustrated in bright colours. Fantastic fun for the whole family,
hopefully to be repeated soon!

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DEC 1st - TRAIN RUNNING EVENT WITH A
'CONTINENTAL' THEME!

Print out the poster to help us advertise the event

Numerous rare French trains made the rounds on our
beautiful 0 gauge and 00 gauge layouts throughout the day.
Visitors to the Museum celebrated with chocolate cake and
bubbly as the newly restored locomotive, 'La Chocolat Nord'
made her first run since 1939 after being brought back to life
by Chris Littledale, the Museum Director over the last 2 years.
Striped shirts and french moustaches added to the fun as well
as a live 'sound show', recreating the sounds of a French
railway station. It was definitely a day of fun and entertainment
for visitors of all ages.

FAIRGROUND EXHIBIT OPEN THRU OCT 31

From June 26 through October 31, 2007, visitors are guaranteed
to be entertained by our new Fairground exhibition. Come and
admire colourful miniature swing-boats, dodgems, carousels and
and rollercoasters and as well as an authentic, life-sized distorting
mirror, which is sure to raise a smile!

During the opening, music from this beautiful fairground
organ filled the streets, surprising passers-by.

FAIRGROUND EXHIBIT IN THE PRESS

Both the Argus and the Leader have published articles about the
new exhibit. Click the links below to read them.

Click to read the Argus story (Friday June 29th) below:

Click to read the Leader story (Thursday July 5th)

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WANTED - MUSEUM VOLUNTEERS

The Museum is currently looking for Volunteers
to help with the day to day running of the Museum. We
also need people to assist the Education Officer with
the delivery of curriculum-based activities during the week.

If interested, please contact the Museum
on 01273 749494 for details.

TONY ROBINSON VISITS MUSEUM!

On Friday June 1st, the Museum welcomed the
patron of the Museum's 'Making History Fun'
campaign, Tony Robinson for a special visit.

After being shown round the Museum, Tony Robinson
signed the Museum guest book.

Click here to view the BBC news story and video,
'Robinson returns to Brighton'

See the Argus story below:

Tony Robinson is patron of the Museum's 'Making History Fun' campaign

'HOP ON A BUS' EXHIBIT- MAY 1st - JUNE 16th

On Tues May 1st the Museum launched a new Special
Exhibit titled 'Hop on a Bus' as part of our 'Making History
Fun' campaign.

Roger French, the head of Brighton and Hove Bus and
Coach Company opened the show, which will run thru
Sat June 16th. The exhibit features models and bus-related
memorabilia... If you love buses, this is not to be missed!

photograph of the 'Hop on a Bus' exhibit

Read more

APRIL 2007 - SMUGGLERS WEEK AND MUSIC HALL FUN

There has been plenty going on during recent months
at the Museum. From Wednesday April 11th - Sat April 14th,
the Toy Museum became a set for our special Easter holiday
Smugglers' Week event, featuring two live performances
(at 12 noon and 3pm) each day. Visitors heard grisly tales of
smuggling days from an old smuggler in his lovingly re-created
prison cell as he awaited transportation to the colonies!

And as if that wasn't enough, on the evening of Sat April 7th the
Museum filled with guests for our Music Hall Extravaganza;
an evening of music and costume, featuring Trevor Littledale
as our MC and numerous musicians. Guests were invited to attend
in fancy dress and there was a fully licensed bar.

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A SAD GOODBYE TO CLAIRE, OUR CURATOR

As of the 30th December 2006 Claire Eden will no longer be the
Curator of the Toy Museum due to funding for her post running
out! Here is a message from her to all the Museum visitors,
patrons, Friends and staff:

" I have had a wonderful time at the Museum, and I have really
enjoyed setting up the new exhibition and events programme
Making History Fun, helping to prepare the Museum's
Accreditation application and trying to keep up - and where
possible improve on - the Museum's fantastic reputation. It will
be extremely sad to go, but I know that the volunteers and
staff are more than capable of carrying on the work that I
started. Thank you to everyone who has made this experience
so wonderful, from visiting the Museum as a one off to long
standing members! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year".

Goodbye!

Claire

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MUSIC NIGHT - AN EVENING OF TALENT AND FUN

As part of its 'Victorian Christmas' celebrations, the Museum hosted an evening of music and singing on Sat December 9th. Several of the guests turned up in full Victorian costume, adding to the festive spirit of the occasion.

Superbly led by Roy Nash and Noel Dumbrell, it was a wonderful evening of singing and instrumental talent, complemented by a full licensed bar and lavish Victorian Christmas decorations. All present enjoyed themselves and we only hope that we can manage to organise another musical event early next Spring!

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FALMER'S 'TOY STORY' EXHIBITION
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28TH - JAN 2007

GCSE art students from Falmer High School have been hard at
work preparing for a very special exhibition at the Museum.
The joint project is part of the 'Big Draw' and the exhibit will
open on Tuesday Novermber 28th and will run thru January 2007.
Click the poster below for an enlargement.

Click to view full size printable poster
(200K pdf document)

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LAUNCH OF 'MAKING HISTORY FUN' CAMPAIGN

October 2006 saw the launch of the Museum's exciting
year-long campaign called 'Making History Fun'. The aim
of the campaign is to make history more accessible to people
of all ages and backgrounds.

The Museum is very busy planning a full programme of events
and activities to run throughout the year. There will be musical
evenings, performances (to include: 'An Audience with Rudyard
Kipling'), special exhibitions, a Quiz night, speakers and a special
Smuggler's event.

The programme and details about events appear in the new
'Making History Fun' section of this website, which has gone
online to help keep the public informed.

Museum Director Chris Littledale and the Mayor during the Launch

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EXCITING NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH
FALMER HIGH SCHOOL!

Brighton Toy and Model Museum is delighted to announce
that the Museum has secured a new partnership with local
secondary school, Falmer High School.

Students from Falmer's GCSE Applied Art group will be
working closely with the Museum Education team to
produce a Big Draw exhibition within the Museum.

We are delighted to be working with Falmer High School as
we feel this relationship will be mutually beneficial, and offer
exciting new opportunities for all involved. We are also pleased
to be involved more directly with our local community and the
future generations.

Please check our website for regular updates on how
things are going!

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SAT NOVEMBER 25 - TRAIN RUNNING DAY
'TIME TO CHANGE'

Our autumn Train Running Event took place on Saturday November 25. Members of the Train Collectors' Society were in the Museum running their own trains (in addition to all of our own vintage trains), making it a truly special event for people of all ages. The idea was to make 'Time to Change' reflect that period when the railways were grouped in 1923. The huge variety of locomotives and rolling stock running on our spectacular '00' and '0' gauge layouts for this special event was a sheer delight.

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WHITEHAWK CHILDREN'S CENTRE OPENING

On Sept. 28th, 2006, the Museum and its Education Team
joined eb4U, the Mayor and the residents of Whitehawk in celebrating the completion of THE WHITEHAWK CHILDREN'S CENTRE. Museum staff provided a hands-on toy demonstration
for visitors during the opening.

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SPECIAL EXHIBITS



October 2006 saw the launch of two special exhibits. The
first is titled 'THE FAMILY THEATRE' , featuring
hand-painted sets, scripts, catalogues and memorabilia
relating to a family which presented juvenile drama plays
at home during the late 1950s-early 1960s.

We are also proud of our new display of figures titled
'THE JOY OF LITTLE PEOPLE'.

Our current exhibit, 'BLERIOT TO CONCORDE'
features a fantastic collection of model aircraft,
illustrating the history of modern flight.

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MUSEUM SHOP

Don't forget that the Museum Shop carries a wide
range of items. Stock includes tin wind-up toys, vintage
model trains, diecast models, games, puppets and
collectors items. Our prices will astound you so come and
have a look! New items in stock include Dandy Marionettes;
why not stop by and take Rosy, our demo marionette for a
walk around the shop? Also try the jumping spiders and
the fishie game.

Click to see photos of the shop cabinets (Aug.2005/May2005)

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COLLECTORS GAZZETTE

The Collectors Gazzette is now on sale each month in the
Museum Shop.

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MUSEUM NEWS ARCHIVE

Please visit our NEWS ARCHIVE for older stories and
photos previously published on this website.

Read all about the Royal Visit last winter and the
Junior Members' party puppet panto (written and
performed by Museum staff!).

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