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A diesel locomotive at MoD Eastriggs.

Shunt Locomotive Driver Experience

By Events

Every Thursday starting from 6th February 2025 ( Subject to availability. Please check online booking page for further information, including health and safety information).

For over 100 years, MoD Eastriggs has been closed off to the public and now is a live railway yard again. Rail Sidings Limited are offering the experience to ride on the footplate of a diesel shunt locomotive, drive it and control shunt movements within the historic MoD Eastriggs site.

Participants in this exciting experience will be able to bring up one guest to watch them drive the Diesel Shunt Locomotive and join them on the guided tour around The Devil’s Porridge Museum, where you learn about the history of the MoD Eastriggs site, originally the location for some H.M. Factory Gretna; a World War One munitions factory, which was employed 30,000 people and was built in response to the shell crisis.

Enjoy homemade food as part of a light lunch and teas or coffees provided by The Devil’s Porridge Museum, with all our food being freshly prepared on the day of the experience.

The Devil’s Porridge Museum is delighted to be collaborating with Rail Sidings Limited (RSL) to make this event possible.  Rail Sidings Limited staff will be in control of the Locomotive Driving Experience. They are experienced rail operation staff, who worked at MoD Eastriggs before it closed in 2012.

This is a unique opportunity to drive a locomotive in a live railway yard, which is a must for any key rail fans!

Places are limited to 1 participant per session with 1 guest.

Booking in advance is essential to secure your place.

Tickets are £371 per participant. Each participant can bring a maximum of one guest.

To book and learn more (including health and safety information and age restrictions) please press book now and go to Shunt Locomotive Driver Experience Day.

Collage of three photos of the Cordite Club Christmas Party, the Children's Christmas Party and the Craft your Christmas Workshop. Some text reads "Monthly Roundup 18th November to 15th December 2024.

Monthly Roundup 18th November to 15th December 2024

By Archive

The Devil’s Porridge Museum is currently closed for the festive season (re-opening the 8th January 2025), we have a few more things to catch you up on in this roundup! Read on to discover what’s happened in or Monthly Roundup 18th November to 15th December 2024; the last one of 2024!

 

Monday 18th November

We’re starting of the Roundup with Arts and Crafts club! It is always lovely to see what the young people who come along to this free club will create.

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Wednesday 20th November

The Devil’s Porridge Museum has had lots of school visits this year and we were delighted to welcome another one to the museum today. You can click here if you would like to learn more about school visits>

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Thursday 21st November

We were proud to welcome author Jeannie Rotherwell to The Devil’s Porridge Museum to present her historical fiction book, Springside. It was brilliant to have so many people join us for this free talk.  Thank you to Jeannie Rotherwell and everyone who joined us for this.

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On 21st November, we also had a group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum. Please be aware that you need to book any food you would like for your group in advance. Click here to find out more about group visits>

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Monday 25th November

It was a month to Christmas, so we had a very festive edition of Cordite Club. They were treated to a Christmas dinner, complete with Christmas crackers! They also had the choice of a mince pie or meringue for dessert (the meringue proved most popular with the attendees!). It was brilliant to be joined by some lovely musicians who sang and played festive music for our Cordite Club too. A huge thank you to them!

We were also proud to be joined by Eastriggs and Dornock Early Years Nursery who treated everyone to some beautiful singing and even left some gifts for our Cordite Club! A huge thank you to them!

Another massive thank you to everyone who has helped make our Cordite Club possible this year and of course all the members of our Cordite Club who join us! This was the last Cordite Club of 2024 and we will look forward to seeing everyone back for this on 20th January 2025.

Below are some photos of our very festive Cordite Club!

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Our Arts and Craft club were in The Devil’s Porridge Museum again in the afternoon. It’s always brilliant to have them at the museum!

 

Wednesday 27th November

Fantastic to have a school visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. If your wondering what happens during a school visit you can click here to learn more>

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Sunday 1st December

Did you know that on 1st December in 1916 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s newspaper article about Moorside (which is a code name for H.M. Factory Gretna) was printed in The Annandale Observer? In this article he coined the phrase “the devil’s porridge” to describe the explosive mixture the munitions workers were mixing, which is were The Devil’s Porridge Museum gets it’s name from!

Monday 2nd December

It was our last Arts and Crafts club before Christmas.

Thank you to Wendy and everyone who helps to make Arts and Crafts happen. Another thank you to all those who regularly join us for this, we really apricate your support throughout the year!

This week they made Christmas candles and decorated Chocolate bars! Below is a photo of this.

Group of young people who come to The Devil's Porridge Museum's Arts and Crafts club in the museum's café. They look happy.

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Tuesday 3rd December

The 3rd of December marked our last school visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum of 2024! It was lovely to have them all at The Devil’s Porridge Museum. As always you can click here to learn more about school visits>

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Thursday 5th December

Our Children’s Christmas Party took place on the 5th December.

We had party games, prizes, festive party food and even a dress the snowman competition for the parents to help with. The young people who came along were also treated to a visit to Santa himself!

Big thank you to everyone who helped with this and to all who joined us for this. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Take a look at some photos from this event below.

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Saturday 7th December

Craft your Christmas was our last event of the year. The young people who came along created some beautiful Christmas Crafts and were even treated to a visit from Santa!

Thanks to Wendy, Calum, Santa and all those who helped and everyone who joined us for this.

Below are some photos of the Christmas crafts workshop.

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And that’s the end of our last Monthly Roundup for 2024!

The Devil’s Porridge Museum may be closed but you can still go back and read our last Monthly Roundup by clicking here> or find our social media accounts by clicking here>.

 

We’re re-opening on Monday 6th January 2025 and look forward to welcoming everyone back into The Devil’s Porridge Museum then!

In the meantime, we would like to say a huge thank you to our amazing volunteers and to everyone else who has supported The Devil’s Porridge Museum this year. We would also like to take the opportunity to wish all those who celebrate a very merry festive season and a Happy New Year. The Devil’s Porridge Museum will be open again on Monday 6th January 2025 and we’ll see you in January for our next Monthly Roundup. In the meantime stay safe and enjoy yourself!

Collage of photos from Mostly Ghostly spooky storytelling session, the children's Halloween party and Animals in War Remembrance Service. It reads Monthly Roundup 21st October to 17th November 2024.

Monthly Roundup 21st October to 17th November 2024

By Archive

Time for the Monthly Roundup for 21st October to 17th November 2024. There was a spook-tacular Halloween party this month. We were also very proud to remember and honour the animals and people who sacrificed so much during wartime.

Monday 21st October

Fantastic to have Mostly Ghostly join us at The Devil’s Porridge Museum for an interactive, family friendly, spooky, storytelling session! It was lovely to see the young people create their own artwork as part of this event and the every generation of family from children to grandparents enjoying the spooky stories that Mostly Ghostly had to tell.

A huge thank you to Mostly Ghostly! Another thank you to everyone who joined us for this.

Below are some photos of this Halloween activity.

Tuesday 22nd October

We were delighted to have a group visit with us at The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. Please remember that you need to book any group visits in advance and you can find out how to do this by clicking here>

Wednesday 23rd October

Excellent to have another group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum today! If your wondering what happens during a group visit you can find out more by clicking here>

Thursday 24th October

Our spook-tacular Halloween Party took place today!

There were some ghoulishly great Halloween costumes and it was amazing to have so many young people come along. A huge thank you to everyone who helped to make this happen and everyone who came along!

Below are some photos from the Children’s Halloween Party. It was fang-tastic! A huge thank you to Lois for taking and sharing these!

Saturday 26th October

This Saturday was the last gardening club of 2024.

A huge thank you to Wendy and the everyone who joined us for gardening club this year! We hope you enjoyed learning some new skills in our Dig for Victory garden.

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The Devil’s Porridge Museum was delighted to feature in an episode of ‘Abandoned Railways from Above’ on Channel 4. We’re very proud to have featured in this and found it a very interesting series. If you haven’t seen it already we would highly recommend a watching it!

You can catch up on all episodes of ‘Abandoned Railways from Above’ (including episode six, which features us) by clicking here>

Monday 28th October

Time for a ghoulishly great Halloween edition of our Cordite Club. It was fang-tastic to have our Cordite Club back in The Devil’s Porridge Museum after a break.

This week they had pumpkin soup, treacle scones and enjoyed some chair aerobics to the Time Warp song. There was also a Halloween craft activity. As always a huge thank you to everyone who helps to make this happen and all those who joined us!

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Arts and Crafts club was back in The Devil’s Porridge Museum after October half term today! Thanks to Wendy and everyone who comes along to this.

One of the attendees of our Arts and Crafts club, Haley, wanted to lead a session of origami. Prior to October half term, we were proud to have her prepare, plan and lead Arts and Crafts club for a day. Her edition of Arts and Crafts club was fantastic and everyone who came along really enjoyed it!

We love to help build the confidence of young people and give them new opportunities at The Devil’s Porridge Museum!

Take a look at some photos of Haley’s Arts and Crafts club session below.

Friday 1st November

Friday 1st November marks the end of Heritage Careers Week. We were proud to share some stories from The Devil’s Porridge Museum throughout this week and two of our members of staff made blog posts to share their experience working in the Heritage Sector. Even though Heritage Careers week is now over you are welcome to read these, especially if you are interested in working in museums or the heritage sector!

The Devil’s Porridge Museum also offers a Museum Mentorship Programme for 16 to 24 year olds, where you can gain hands on experience, support and guidance in your chosen volunteer role. Find out more about our Museum Mentorship Programme by clicking here>

Monday 4th November

On Mondays we always have Arts and Crafts club. This week they were crafting poppies for remembrance day.

Friday 8th November

Excellent to have another group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. Please be aware that group visits need to book in advance and you can find out how by clicking here>

Sunday 10th November 2024

To commemorate Remembrance Day today, we asked our visitors to join us in a two minutes silence at 11am to remember all those who sacrificed so much in past conflict, as well as those who continue to do so or are affected by conflict today.

We were also proud to have representatives of of The Devil’s Porridge Museum laying wreaths at Eastriggs and Dornock war memorial on Remembrance Sunday.

Monday 11th November

We were proud to have local schools, the nursery, the public and their animals join us for our Animals in War Remembrance Service on Armistice Day. During this service we placed wreathes at our Animals in War memorial and took the time to remember all those who have been affected by conflict in the past and present.  Thank you to everyone who joined us for this.

Below are some photos of this.

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Cordite club was back in The Devil’s Porridge Museum again today. This week they also took the time to remember those who have been affected by conflict and / or wartime.

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In the afternoon, we had Arts and Crafts club in The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Wednesday 13th November

Brilliant to have a school visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. It was lovely to have them. Read more about school visits by clicking here>

Friday 15th November

Lovely to have a nursery group visit join us at The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. As always, you can click here to read more about school visits>

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And that’s the end of this week’s Monthly Roundup! Join us again in December for The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s last Monthly Roundup of 2024! As always, you can catch up on our previous Monthly Roundup by clicking here>

We still have some exciting events coming up! Learn more on our events page here>

Poster for Animals in war Remembrance Service happening at The Devil's Porridge Museum on Monday 11th November 2024 at 11am. Please arrive for this event by 10.45am.

Animals in War Remembrance Service 2024

By Archive

Monday 11th November 2024

11am

Please arrive by 10:45am as the service will start promptly

The Devil’s Porridge Museum will be commemorating Remembrance Day by laying a wreath down at our memorial to animals in war.  We would like to invite everyone and their pets to the museum on Armistice Day, Monday 11th November 2024 to mark this event. 

We are proud to once again have some local schools attending this event with us.

This event will happen outside The Devil’s Porridge Museum. For anyone going inside The Devil’s Porridge Museum, please be advised that our usual admission prices and rules will apply.

Prior to this on Sunday 10th November 2024, we would like to invite our visitors to join us in a two minutes silence to mark Remembrance Sunday at 11am.

Representatives of The Devil’s Porridge Museum are  proud to be laying wreaths at Eastriggs and Dornock war memorial on Remembrance Sunday.
On Thursday 21st November 2024 at 2pm, Jeannie Rotherwell will present her historical fiction book 'Springside' at The Devil's Porridge Museum. To book please email education@devilsporridg.org.uk or call 01461 700021.

Talk from author, Jeannie Rotherwell

By Archive

Thursday 21st November 2024

2pm

Jeannie Rotherwell will be presenting her historical fiction book, ‘Springside’ at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

‘Springside’ is fiction, based on the real experience of the author’s Grandfather during World War One and the diaries of Geoffrey Higson; a shift chemist at H.M. Factory Gretna. The lives of people living in Dornock in the past also feature in this historical fiction.

This talk will be free. Admission prices still apply for anyone who wants to look around The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Copies of ‘Springside’ will be available to purchase at the talk.

To book please email education@devilsporridge.org.uk or you can call The Devil’s Porridge Museum on 01461 700021

 

Children's Christmas Party at The Devil's Porridge Museum will be happening on Thursday 5th December 2024 from 6.30pm to 8pm for 5 to 11 year olds. We do ask for a parent or guardian of any child under 6 years old to stay for the duration of the party. Booking is essential and places are limited. Tickets are £3 per child plus a booking fee. We are committed to keeping our activities as inclusive as possible. If you need financial support please contact: education@devilsporridge.org.uk or call 01461 700021 To book please go to The Devil's Porridge Museum's website.

Children’s Christmas Party 2024

By Archive

Thursday 5th December 2024

6.30pm – 8pm

Join us for party games, festive fun and to meet Santa at our Children’s Christmas Party!

This is for young people aged 5 – 11 years old.  We do ask for a parent / guardian of any child under 6 years old to stay for the duration of the party.

Parents and / or guardians are welcome to stay and watch this party (places only need to be booked for the young people attending). The parents and / or guardians will even have the opportunity to help the young attendees with a best dressed snowperson competition activity, if their feeling festive enough!

Places are limited and booking is essential.

Tickets cost £3 per child (plus a booking fee).*

*We are committed to keeping our activities as inclusive as possible. If you need financial support please contact: education@devilsporridge.org.uk or call 01461 700021

To book your place please click on the “book now” tab at the side of the screen or click on “book online” in our top navigation bar. You should find the ‘Children’s Christmas Party 2024’ event listed there.

A huge thank you to our funders the Hollywood Trust and The National Lottery Community Fund, Young Start for their support of this event.

Below are some photos from previous Children’s Christmas Parties held at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

 

 

 

Craft your Christmas at The Devil's Porridge Museum on Saturday 7th December 2024 from 10am to 12pm. This activity is for young people aged 7 to 12 and tickets cost £4 per child plus a booking fee. Booking is essential and places are limited.

Craft your Christmas!

By Archive

Saturday 7th December 2024

10am to 12pm

Join us to Craft your Christmas at The Devil’s Porridge Museum with a selection of fun festive crafts! All craft materials will be provided and you will be able to take what you make home with you!

Santa Claus himself will be making a magical appearance!

Craft your Christmas is ideal for 7 to 12 year olds. Although, parents or guardians are welcome to stay during the workshop they will not be able to participate in the craft activities. Please only book places for the young people who will be attending.

Booking is essential and places are limited. 

Tickets cost £4 per child (plus a booking fee).

We are committed to keeping our activities as inclusive as possible. If you need financial support please contact: education@devilsporridge.org.uk or call 01461 700021

To book your place please click on the “book now” tab at the side of the screen or click on “book online” in our top navigation bar. You should find the ‘Christmas Craft Workshop’ event listed there.

A huge thank you to our funders the Hollywood Trust and The National Lottery Community Fund, Young Start for their support of this event.

Four photos of The Devil's Porridge Museum inside and outside and working with items in the museum's collection. It reads "Heritage Careers Week 2024."

Heritage Careers Week 2024

By Archive

Heritage Careers Week is running from 28th October to 1st November 2024. It’s designed to showcase and celebrate the diverse selection of roles available in the industrial heritage sector.

There’s a variety of jobs in the heritage sector. To celebrate, Desray, one of our assistants, shares her experience of working The Devil’s Porridge Museum below.

We’re hoping to add another of our staff’s experience working in the creative and cultural industries to this blog post very soon!

When did you decide that you wanted to work within the Creative and Cultural Industries and what influenced that decision?

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do at all when I left school and I hadn’t really thought about working in the creative and culture industries, but when I saw the role for digitisation volunteers advertised online I thought it looked interesting. When I started volunteering I found it really engaging and felt like I was learning lots, which I guess was when I started thinking about it.”

What did your career path look like?

“When I started at The Devil’s Porridge Museum, I was volunteering as one of the digitisation volunteers. This involved helping to create digital records for the objects in The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s collection. About a year later, I started on front of house at and then started working on an SVQ in Museum and Galleries Practices while I was doing this. The SVQ was fascinating and I feel I learned at lot about caring for  The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s collections and more!

I was delighted to be offered a Digital Marketing Apprenticeship at The Devil’s Porridge Museum with Museum’s Galleries Scotland. I was working on the SVQ, Apprenticeship, and front of house in the museum at the same time, which gave me hands on experience and helped to grow my confidence. You can read more about my time as a Digital Marketing Apprentice on Museum Galleries Scotland’s website by clicking here>

After I finished my apprenticeship and then, later my SVQ in 2022, I was thrilled to be offered a job at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Currently, I’m an Museum Assistant at The Devil’s Porridge Museum. I’m hugely grateful for the support of all those at The Devil’s Porridge Museum and everyone I’ve worked with who have hugely helped me build my confidence and learn!”

Describe a typical day in your working life?

“There’s a variety of things I do, which makes every day different and interesting! Sometimes I can be on front of house in The Devil’s Porridge Museum, welcoming visitors and taking payments or taking orders and serving tables in The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s Café (you don’t have go in our museum to visit our Café by the way). At other times I can be scheduling content for The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s social media, replying to Google reviews, creating blog posts and analysing the performance of The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s social media content – I think the latter is something people often overlook in digital marketing, but I find it vital to make sure campaigns are working and establish ways they can improve in the future! I also find digging into the data helps me come up with new ideas, which is something you need to keep social media content engaging!

I’m also proud to be on The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s Youth Council, which can be interesting.”

What advice would you give someone interested in working in the industrial heritage sector?

“Volunteer. It’s a great place to start and can hugely help to build your confidence, even if you don’t know what you want to do. It can also give you experience of different roles within the creative and culture sector; helping you find what you’re interested and what your not so interested in.”

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

“The variety and the people! It’s nice to always have something different to do and everyone is very friendly at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.”

 

If you would be interested in gaining experience in the cultural heritage sector, why not take a look at our Museum Mentorship Programme? This is for 16 to 24 years old and provides hands on experience with support, guidance and training from an mentor! Find out more about the Museum Mentorship Programme by clicking here>

Monthly Roundup for 16th September to 20th October 2024. There is a photo of a pumpkin growing in our Dig For Victory Garden, living history re-enactors the Time Bandits and the museum's Arts and Crafts Club.

Monthly Roundup 16th September to 20th October 2024

By Archive

Monday 16th September

Brilliant to have our Arts and Crafts club back in The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. If you know a young person who would like to come along, you can find out how to book here>

Saturday 21st September

This week gardening club built an insect house and helped harvest some fresh vegetables from the garden. Did you know we use some of the food grown in our Dig for Victory garden in the Café? We’ve also been selling some homegrown apples and potatoes to our visitors!

Below are two photos from gardening club. A huge thank you to Wendy and the gardening club!

Monday 23rd September

Cordite Club was painting autumnal decorations this week. Our next Cordite Club will be a spook-tacluar Halloween celebration on 28th October 2024. Learn more about Cordite Club by clicking here>

Arts and Crafts club was also on again today. It was brilliant to see the young people who come along being so creative! If you would like to find out more about Arts and Crafts club click here>

Take a look at some photos from Arts and Crafts club below.

Tuesday 24th September

Excellent to have two small group visits with us at The Devil’s Porridge Museum today.  Please be aware that you do have to book group visits in advance and you can learn how by clicking here>

Saturday 28th September

Gardening Club was on again today.

Below are some photos of some pumpkins growing in The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s Dig For Victory. Don’t they look good?

Sunday 29th September

Today we had another group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. Please remember it is essential to book your group visit and any found you would like in advance. Find out more and how to book your group visit by clicking here>

Monday 30th September

We were delighted to have a school visit come to The Devil’s Porridge Museum today.  Wondering what we offer as part of a school visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum? You can find out this and more by heading to our school visit page by clicking here>

Arts and Crafts club was on today. Lovely to see the young people crafting!

Saturday 5th October

Saturday’s mean Arts and Crafts club in The Devil’s Porridge Museum. It’s brilliant to see all their hard work paying off with the food growing in our Dig for Victory Garden!

Monday 7th October

Another group came to visit The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. It was lovely to have them. Please click here to find out more about group visits>

Our term time arts and crafts club was on again today. A huge thank you to Wendy and all the young people who come along to this, as always. Arts and Crafts club will be back again after October half term. Learn more about arts and crafts club by clicking here>

Wednesday 16th October

We were delighted to welcome the Time Bandits to The Devil’s Porridge Museum today for the first of our October half term activities. They had a selection of amazing original and replica World War One artefacts on display and were walking around the museum sharing dark tales from the trenches. It’s always brilliant to have The Time Bandits at The Devil’s Porridge Museum!

A huge thank you to them and everyone who came along to see them! It was brilliant to have so many people come along to see the Time Bandits at the museum.

Take a look at some photos of this below.

Thursday 17th October

We had two group visits to The Devil’s Porridge Museum today and it was brilliant to have them! If you would like to plan a group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum, find all you need to know by clicking here>

 

And that’s the end of this This Month’s Monthly Roundup. Our next Roundup will be in November, so be sure to look out for it and why not travel back in time and check out last month’s Monthly Roundup in the meantime? You can do this by clicking here>

We have a range of October half-term activities coming up. From a family friendly spooky storytelling session with Mostly Ghostly to a Children’s Halloween party, there’s lots to look forward to. Be sure to check out our events page here>

Poster for Crafted in Conflict Trench Art exhibition to be held at The Devil's Porridge Museum. This exhibition is coming soon.

Crafted in Conflict

By Current Exhibition

We’re delighted to introduce our Crafted in Conflict: Trench Art from the Front Lines and Beyond Exhibition.

Trench Art is often associated with the First World War, but it also applies to items produced in earlier and later wars. In fact Trench Art refers to a diverse range of decorative and functional item created during or shortly after times of conflict. Despite, the name not all of it was created literally in the trenches with some being made by civilians, prisoners of war and more.

This exhibition hopes to help dispel some of the commonly believed myths about Trench Art.

You will be able to learn more about Trench Art from this exhibition and see some examples from The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s collection that are not normally on display.

Visitors can enjoy this exhibition as part of their visit into The Devil’s Porridge Museum. Normal admission prices and opening hours to The Devil’s Porridge Museum do apply. Find our admission prices and opening hours here>

Crafted in Conflict will be at The Devil’s Porridge Museum until 28th February 2025.

 

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