Council venues to host a celebration of science next week
8 February 2024
The Tower Museum and the Alley Theatre will be throwing open their doors to science buffs next week as the NI Science Festival arrives in the city for a celebration of local innovation and discovery.
Now in its tenth year, the festival is a fun and accessible introduction to science for people of all ages, with a number of events taking place at venues across the City and District.
The Tower Museum will have a number of objects on display linked to science and technology, showing the changes and developments over the decades.
Experience the museum’s exciting VR space where visitors can enjoy one of three immersive experiences. ‘Afloat and Ashore’ follows in the footsteps of the many people who departed from Derry Quay to journey across the Atlantic in 1891 for a new life in America. Then – ‘Beware! Enemy Below!’ Help to protect the vital supplies arriving from North America from the U-boat menace by spotting the dangers from a kite balloon hundreds of meters in the air. Finally enjoy a bird’s eye view of the ‘Island City’ and watch as it develops from a wild landscape of thick forests and ancient standing stones to the vibrant modern city of bricks and glass that we see today.
Enjoy a snapshot of Strabane’s fascinating history of photography at the Alley Theatre. Strabane is synonymous with John Dunlap, printer of the U.S Declaration of Independence. But few however realise that Strabane can lay a rightful claim as the home of Ulster photography, as the birthplace of RJ Welch, official photographer of Harland and Wolff, as well as the work of Herbert Cooper, whose images of Strabane and district are considered one of the finest records of life during the interwar years.
As part of the Science Festival, a number of objects from the collections will be on display celebrating the sciences of printing and photography, as well as images taken by R.J Welch in the Belfast shipyards.
Looking ahead to the events, Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Councillor Patricia Logue, said: “The NI Science Festival is a fantastic showcase of invention and scientific exploration and it’s fantastic to see local venues including the Alley Theatre and the Tower Museum shining a light on some of the interesting artefacts that we hold in our own collections.
“The programme has a wide array of events to appeal to budding scientist of all ages and I would really encourage everyone to check out what’s happening in their area.”
The temporary collections will be on display in both venues from February 13th, running until February 25th, and admission is free for the exhibits. Groups do however have to book in advance for the VR Experience at the Tower Museum.
Find out more about all the events included in the N. Ireland Science Festival Programme at https://nisciencefestival.com/