What's it like in the Sedgwick Museum when everybody's gone home? On Saturday (20 December) parents and children had a chance to explore the museum and some of the rocks, fossils and minerals held in the collection. But the catch was they had to use their senses other than sight to explore the exhibits at the Sedgwick.

The workshop was led by Annette Shelford and Liz Hide from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Families participated in hands-on experiments with objects and torches to investigate some of the properties of materials, light and shadows, and how and why the Moon casts scary shadows on the Earth.

For a slightly spooky finale the ghost of Rev. Professor Adam Sedgwick (local actor Thomas Marty) appeared to give participants a tour and talk about some of the objects and the stories associated with them. The Museum was built as a memorial to him and opened in 1904.

Lights Out! is part of a series of events to celebrate the centenary of the opening of the Sedgwick Museum in Spring 2004. The events will include further appearances by Sedgwick, as well as the museum’s regular programme of family learning events.

For more information see our website www.sedgwickmuseum.org.

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