Puppet-sized Gerald, the RAMM giraffe
Photo by Phillippa Wood
Gerald in the museum about 40 years ago
RAMM
Hello Gerald!
RAMM
The giraffe visits West Exe Children's Centre
By Phillippa Wood, RAMM Family Learning Officer
A puppet-sized Gerald has been visiting the children at West Exe Children's Centre. He has taken with him a few of the artefacts that have surrounded him in the museum for the last 90 years. The children have explored these and other fascinating historical items that the centre staff have contributed. The children have created their own museum of treasured items and personal photographs to make Gerald feel at home.
The children were very concerned about what would happen to Gerald when the museum closes on December 1st for refurbishment.
Here are some of their questions and answers:
Q: How are you going to get Gerald out?
A: We have a big window in the side of the Museum which used to be a door. We're going to make it into a door again so that Gerald can fit through, as that's the way he came in, over a hundred years ago.
Q: Will Gerald be craned out of the building?
A: Gerald will be pulled on a trolley through the new door we have made. Once Gerald is outside he'll be put in a crate to keep him safe. Then he will be put on the back of a lorry using a small crane.
The lorry will take him to the back of the Museum where another crane will pick him up, (still in his crate), and lower him through a big hole in the roof into his new home at the Museum.
Q: Will you have to break the building to get Gerald out?
A: We will have to make one of the big windows into a door by taking the glass out, but we will repair the windows and paint them so they last longer.
We will have to make a big hole in the roof to get Gerald, (and the elephant), back into the building, but we're having a new roof put on afterwards so they won't get wet when it rains.
Q: Are you going to put Gerald in a bus? (The child added that perhaps this wouldn't be such a good idea).
A: We're going to put Gerald on a special lorry, then build a crate around him for the short journey to the back of the Museum. Unfortunately there would be no room for Gerald on a bus and he wouldn't fit through the door!
Q: Is Gerald going to stay in the museum forever?
A: We hope so! Our conservators will work hard to clean and repair him so he will last for at least another 100 years!
Q: If there are no people in the museum - how are they going to see Gerald?
A: There will be pictures of him on the Museum website, and you'll be able to see him again in two years when the Museum reopens.
Q: Can you take pictures of Gerald as he comes out of the museum? Where will he actually go?
A: We will be taking lots of pictures of Gerald when he moves because it is a long time since he has been outside the Museum. You'll probably see him on the news and in the newspapers when he comes out of the building.
Read the background to the partnership between West Exe Children's Centre and RAMM: Early Years Project