Church Farmhouse Museum Main Exhibitions |
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THE EYE OF CHILDHOOD:
The exhibition concentrates on Oliver Postgate (Bagpuss, Noggin the Nog, The Clangers; born in Hendon & grew up there and in Finchley ); Anthony Buckeridge (the Jennings stories;born in Mill Hill); Frank Horrabin (the Japhet & Happy cartoon series for the ‘News Chronicle’; lived for many years in Hendon); and Sydney & Betty Hulme Beaman (the Toytown stories on radio and TV from the 1930s to the 1950s; lived and died in Golders Green). Others featured include Spike Milligan ( who wrote and illustrated Silly Verse for Kids among many other children’s books), Glen Petrie (Lucy and the Pirates, which features in the film...((title to be added)), Judy Hindley (author of numerous books for young children, including the Alfie Alligator stories), Raymond Sheppard (illustrator of Enid Blyton tales, but best known for his books on natural history), Betty Ladler (who also illustrated stories by Enid Blyton), Helen Craig (creator of Anglina Ballerina), Constance Boyle (writer and illustrator of the ‘Little Owl’ series) and Joe Craig ( whose novels about the young ‘bionic’ boy Jimmy Coates have become hugely successful, and are soon to be made into a TV series). The exhibition looks, too, at works published locally, such as the innovative pop-up books produced in the 1930s by the Bookano press in Finchley The exhibition also includes Lewis Carroll, as the Lewis Carroll Society was founded in 1969 by the late Ellis Hillman, Hendon resident and one-time Mayor of Barnet borough. There will be a section, too, on Mark Lemon, who lived at Church Farm in the early 1800s, and who, as well as founding and editing Punch magazine, wrote two popular children’s books in the 1840s. (Mark Lemon’s daughter Kate was John Tenniel’s model for Alice in his illustrations to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.) Children visiting the exhibition will have the chance to write their own brief stories or poems, or create their own illustrations to their favourite tales. Reading is one of childhood’s greatest
adventures, and the many and varied writers and artists of our area
have contributed much to it. The Moving Toyshop Church Farm’s continuing exhibition of 20th Century toys and games is based on the extensive private collections of Friends of the Museum Irene & Mark Cornelius and Brenda Faris. It will feature new displays of teddy bears, dolls and dolls’ houses this Summer, and there is now a Teddy Bear Trail for children to follow through the Museum’s Victorian kitchen, laundry room and dining room. As well as toys and games for the very young to play with, the exhibition now gives an opportunity for older children to make their own models out of Lego or Lott’s Bricks.(Lott’s Bricks were made nearby in Bushey, Hertfordshire, and were one of the most popular construction toys of the 1930s.)
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