Dinosaurs rise again at Bushey Museum

9:39am Tuesday 11th November 2008

Extinction has never been a barrier for children’s imaginations, especially when it comes to magnificent prehistoric beasts like the dinosaurs. Bushey Museum’s managing curator David Wharlow sounds just as excited as he puts the finishing touches to The Age of the Dinosaurs, which opens in the museum’s art gallery this weekend. The touring exhibition from Stevenage Museum is funded by Renaissance in the Regions.

“We have a two-metre long stegosaurus and lots of interactives,” enthuses David. “There are teeth, bones, skeletons, fossils and models – including one of a baby T-rex in a nest.

There are teeth, bones, skeletons, fossils and models – including one of a baby T-rex in a nest

Managing curator, David Wharlow

“Children can work out the dinosaur family tree, look at different eggs and take part in a dino dig.”

Casting an eye over the displays, it’s not hard to see why dinosaurs have such appeal. There’s something about their names – ankylosaur, pterodactyl, iguanadon – that, however difficult to spell, children find simply spellbinding. The sheer height and bulk of a fully-grown dinosaur is awe-inspiring, not just to a small child but for all ages. What they looked like, what colour they were, how they lived, what they ate and why they disappeared from our planet are constant sources of fascination for scientists and laymen alike.

To give the exhibition further relevance, David has enhanced the displays with local fossils from Bushey Museum’s collection. Among the additional items is a set of intricate and beautifully illustrated dinosaur postcards by local artist Alice B Woodward.

Alice was born in Chelsea in 1862, the daughter of eminent scientist Henry Woodward, who was the keeper of geology within the natural history department of the British Museum.

“Alice was educated at home by governesses alongside her siblings,” says David. “They all became skilled artists and Alice went on to illustrate her father’s lectures and papers for his colleagues.”

Alice used the money she received from these illustrations to finance her way through art school, attending the National Art Training School, South Kensington School (now the Royal College of Art), and later the Westminster School of Art and the Académie Julian in Paris.

She settled in Bushey in 1912 and went on to become a noted illustrator of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and children’s books. She created the now-classic illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and The Peter Pan Picture Book and taught her skills to Cicely Mary Barker, the creator of the Flower Fairies series.

Alice’s dinosaur postcards and illustrations she made for her father’s colleagues are among the items on display.

Elsewhere, visitors can test their dinosaur knowledge, become palaeontologists and find the dinosaurs hidden in the galleries or have a go at building a dinosaur food chain and sort the carnivores from the omnivores and herbivores.

Age of The Dinosaurs is at Bushey Museum, Rudolph Road until March 2009. The museum is open from Thursday to Sundays from 11am to 4pm.

Details: 020 8420 4057