Free activity day at Herbert Art Gallery and Museum...

Coventrians are being offered the chance to delve into their past at a free activity day at a city museum this weekend.

The Great British Story – Ancestors in the Archives – will take place at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum on Saturday from 10.30am-4.30pm, offering the public a chance to delve into the history of the area and learn more about past generations.

The event, which has been organised in collaboration with BBC Learning, will feature a range of free activities, from storytelling to performances and film screenings, and will be broadcast on the radio to museums in different countries.

Visitors will be able to look into the meaning of their surnames and place names and enjoy talks from the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? historian Nick Barrett and Roland Rotheram from the Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust.

Fiona Dye, from BBC Learning, said: “This is a brilliant opportunity to learn about Coventry’s rich history and allow people to delve into their own ancestry.”

Coventry Amateur Radio Society to transmit live from Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

LOCAL amateur radio enthusiasts will host live transmissions from a Coventry museum this weekend.

Members of the Coventry Amateur Radio Society will set up a station at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum tomorrow and Sunday as part of International Museums Weekend, a worldwide amateur radio societies initiative involving traditional and working museums across the globe.

The annual event will see the 30-strong group make links with other amateur radio societies to find out what is happening across a variety of venues.

Previous International Museums Weekend events have ranged from small local village museums manned by a lone operator to some of the worlds most prestigious and large military museum sites, such as HMS Belfast in London and the Battleship New Jersey in America.

The society maintained links with the Herbert after donating an amateur radio used by a late member during the Second World War.

There are about 1.2million people worldwide with amateur radios and the potential to receive the society’s transmissions from the Jordan Well museum.

A Coventry Amateur Radio Society member will also cover the Olympic Torch Relay through Coventry, transmitting the action as it happens along the route on its second day in the city as part of its journey through the UK on Monday, July 2.

Anyone with an amateur radio can connect to the Herbert museum transmission using the call signal GB4H.