History Makers: It's Christmas!

With 53 in attendance at last week’s ‘History Makers’ we had a busy and productive session. Many thanks to all who turned up to make our Christmas extravaganza a success! A special thank you to father and son trio TeamBuild who were responsible for building this fantastic model ahead of our event. It will be on display in the arcade at the History Centre until the end of December. Why not come and have a look? There's a fun quiz to help you explore the model.

Chris, Charlie and Tom McKnight with their fantastic Christmas themed model!

The theme this month was loosely based on a ‘Victorian Christmas’. Did you know that the tradition of Christmas card and present giving in this country really took off during the reign of Queen Victoria? At the beginning of the 19th century these traditions were not well established. Over the course of the century it became more normal to give homemade cards and presents to the people you loved at Christmas time. Printed cards were expensive, so many ordinary Victorians chose to make their own. Enthused by this Victorian tradition of Christmas crafting, we had a look at some of the old Christmas greetings cards from our collections here at the History Centre and were inspired to make our own.

Selection of Christmas cards held at Hull History Centre

Our crafters also made some fantastic model Christmas trees, 3D stars and bejewelled decorations. Our master builders created endless Lego Christmas trees, Santa’s sleighs and wonderfully festive houses. At the end of the session our lecture theatre was the most festive room any archives building could hope to have!

Some of our History Makers' creations!

Now, with December’s event over, it does mean we have no more History Makers sessions in 2015. But fear not, we will be back in 2016 with our new programme for another year of free family events! The 2016 programme is available to download from the History Centre website.

History Makers Team