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A red Zentangle drawing. This is drawing is a figure of eight shape with a mixture of different patterns inside it.

Zentangle Drawing

By Archive

When is Zentangle Drawing?

Thursday 6th August 2026

Drop in and join us any time between 11am and 12.30pm or 2pm and 3.30pm.

What is Zentangle Drawing?

Join us for a session of mindfulness and drawing as you discover the world of Zentangles. These repeating patterns can be viewed from any angle and are very relaxing to create. We’ll help you learn some of the basic patterns and you can then produce your own unique artwork. All ages welcome for a chilled session of drawing.

Just drop in any time between 11am and 12.30pm or 2pm and 3pm. This activity is free of charge. Usual admission applies for those wishing to visit the main museum displays.

You might also be interested in…

The Mossband Swifts women's football team at H.M. Factory Gretna arranged in three rows. Some of the image has been colourised in a paint splat shape while the rest is in black and white.

Tinted Postcards and Watercolour Scenes

By Archive

A free family art activity at The Devil’s Porridge Museum!

When is Tinted Postcards and Watercolour Scenes?

Thursday 13th August 2026

Drop in any time between 11am and 12.30pm or 2pm to 3.30pm.

What is Tinted Postcards and Watercolour Scenes?

Discover how some of the black and white postcards in the museum’s collection were colourised, try out some tinting techniques yourself and then relax with painting your own watercolour artworks.

Drop in any time between 11am and 12.30pm or 2pm and 3.30pm. These family activities are free, usual admission prices apply to visit the main museum displays.

You might also be interested in…

A sign for the Scotia Crafters pointing through the open door of The Devil's Porridge Museum's education room in which tables of local crafts are displayed.

Scotia Crafters 2026

By Archive

When?

Sunday 16th August to Sunday 30th August 2026

10am – 4pm

(Open from 11am to 4pm on Sunday 16th August to allow for setting up!)

Where?

The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s Education Room.

Entry into the Scotia Crafters exhibition ONLY is free. Admission prices will still apply for anyone visiting to look around The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

What?

Looking for the perfect handmade gift, or perhaps just that special something? Come along and see the Scotia Crafters at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

We’re delighted them back in the museum again this year. The Scotia Crafters will have an Arts and Crafts Market of quality, local, handmade, crafts within The Devil’s Porridge Museum. This will include:

  • Hand knits;
  • Jewellery;
  • Soaps and Body Care;
  • Needle felting;
  • Crochet art;
  • Cards;
  • Unique gifts;
  • And much more!

Our team at The Devil’s Porridge Museum always love to see the beautiful handmade items the Scotia Crafters have, so maybe you will too?

Entry into the Scotia Crafters’ Arts and Crafts Market is free. For those wishing to explore The Devil’s Porridge Museum,  our usual admission prices apply.

 

Who are the Scotia Crafters?

The Scotia Crafters is a collective of artists, makers and craftspeople, all based in Dumfries and Galloway Scotland.

You can find the Scotia Crafters on Facebook here>

Below are some photos of the Scotia Crafters, Arts and Craft Market from 2025 to give you some idea of what you might be able to expect this year. Please be aware that the crafts and gifts available do vary each year, but you’ll be sure to find something unique! Why not start on your Christmas shopping or treat yourself?

Monthly Roundup 20th April to 24th May 2026. This includes three photos of artwork. The first features flowers made out of buttons, the second is of a dog walker made out of buttons and a flower in a garden made out of flowers.

Monthly Roundup 20th April to 24th May 2026

By Archive

Here’s our Monthly Roundup 20th April to 24th May 2026.

Before we begin can we just take a moment to say it happened again!

The green TripAdvisor owl logo with 2026 on it. Underneath are the words "Traveller's Choice."

We’re proud to have been awarded a TripAdvisor Travellers Choice Award again for 2026! 🥳

This means our museum is in the top 10% of properties on the whole of… planet Earth according to TripAdvisor and that’s all thanks to YOU!

(More specifically it comes from our visitors reviews and ratings on TripAdvisor over the past 12 months.)

So, we would like to say is a huge THANK YOU to everyone who supports The Devil’s Porridge Museum and all who take the time to leave a review of their visit!

Now on with this month’s Roundup…

***

Monday 21st April

This Monthly Roundup starts with Arts and Crafts Club.

***

Tuesday 21st April 2026

Some of our team had a fab afternoon at The Holywood Trust’s Spring Gathering today. This wonderful organisation supports young people across the region through funding projects and creative opportunities. They have been wonderful supporters of the Devil’s Porridge Museum and our work with young people. It was fantastic to be part of their celebration of the dazzling talent, art and creativity and amazing young people in Dumfries and Galloway. A really inspiring event, which has prepared us for our next exciting projects.

Below are some photos from this.

 

Later on we had our Warhammer Club at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

***

Wednesday 22nd April 2026

Our Youth and Community Engagement Officer headed out to give a talk about our museum at The Usual Place in Dumfries for Veterans with Sight Loss.  It was lovely to be invited to do this. We hope you all enjoyed the talk and it was nice to meet you all.

***

Thursday 23rd April

Today we had the first group visit of this Monthly Roundup. Thank you to them for taking the opportunity to come along and visit us and it was great to meet you!

***

Monday 27th April

We started the week with another group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum. A huge thank you to them for taking the time to come and visit us. It was fantastic to have them and lovely to see all their happy faces! Want a look for yourself? We’ll leave a photo they kindly let us take and share below.

 

Two men dressing up in 1940s style aprons and posing as though they are washing clothing in The Devil's Porridge Museum's 1940s house display.

 

After-school Arts and Crafts Club was on today too.

***

Tuesday 28th April

Tuesday’s mean Warhammer Club in the evening at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Lately, we’ve also had Gaelic Lessons on Tuesdays too.

***

Monday 3rd May

Monday’s means it’s time to get creative with Arts and Crafts Club.

***

Tuesday 4th May

An arrangement of Warhammer miniatures on a table.

 

Warhammer Club was on again this week.

So were Gaelic Lesson!

***

Friday 8th May

Brilliant to have our Tom invited to Annan Day Centre to give a talk about our museum. Thanks for having us and it was fantastic to meet everyone who came along.

This was a fab way to spend the anniversary of VE Day this year!

***

Saturday 9th May

At the weekend we had a group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum. We hope you all enjoyed your time at our museum and thanks for coming along!

***

Monday 11th May

Cordite Club was back! This week they heard all about some dairy stories and had a go at making their own butter (even though it did take rather a lot of shaking).

They also had soup and sandwiches to enjoy. Delicious!

In the afternoon we had Arts and Crafts Club.

***

Tuesday 12th May

Warhammer Club is happening on Tuesdays.

All this week we had a young person join us for work experience at The Devil’s Porridge Museum. Wondering what she got up to?

She kindly took a blog post about her week, which you can read by clicking here>

Thanks to her for writing this and joining us!

***

Monday 18th May

This week’s Cordite Club had:

  • Baked potato with beans or cheese;
  • Followed by meringue nests and tinned fruit salad;
  • Card Bingo;
  • And a brilliant Button Craft.

If you want to take a look at their beautiful creations, take a look at the photos below.

 

 

Arts and Crafts Club was also on later. This weeks craft activity involved some messy shaving foam and food colouring artwork!

A shutout goes to our volunteers Shelia and Wendy for all their help today.

( Interestingly, today also marked the 109th anniversary of when King George V and Queen Mary visited H.M. Factory Gretna in 1917! )

***

Tuesday 19th May

Next, we were delighted to welcome another group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Warhammer Club is on Tuesdays too! Remember you can find more about our regular activities at the end of this blog.

So is Gaelic Lessons.

***

Wednesday 20th May

We were excited to be participating in Bang Goes D & G event today. This is a STEM event for many school across the county.

Our Tom and our volunteer and trustee Alice represented The Devil’s Porridge Museum at this event. It was fantastic to see so many enthusiastic young people there!

***

Thursday 21st May

Fantastic to have a school visit at The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. We hope they all enjoyed their visit to our museum and the hands on activities we had, including having a go at using some old fashioned toys.

***

Friday 22nd May

Today marked the 111th anniversary of Quintinshill Rail Accident.

To mark the occasion we had an illustrated talk exploring Britain’s worst railway disaster at our The Devil’s Porridge Museum. This presentation was given by Grant Cullen, a historian of railways and the Great War, explained how the disaster unfolded and shared some of the personal stories of those involved.

We were proud to be joined by so many people for this talk. This is many more than any previous evening event at our museum and what we expected. We’re looking to see if there is a way we can repeat for those who may not have been able to see and hear it on this first occasion. Thank you to everyone who took the time to join us and Grant Cullen for giving the talk.

***

Conclusion

To round-off our Monthly Roundup we would like a thank you to everyone who has made our activities and more run smoothly! You’re all stars, even if we don’t have time to mention everyone.

Another thank you to everyone who joined us for any of our activities or visited us throughout the course of this Month’s Roundup. We really apricate your support!

Wondering what else we have coming up at The Devil’s Porridge Museum, or want more details about anything mentioned in this Roundup? See our list below.

 

 

Finally, if you fancy stepping back in time you can check out our previous Monthly Roundup by clicking here>

See you next time. 👋

A wooden cut out of Sherlock Holmes holding a pipe and wearing a hat

A Busy Week at The Devils Porridge Museum

By Archive

I have been lucky enough to enjoy a weeks work experience at the Devils Porridge museum, where I have been able to work with many people who have been extremely kind and enthusiastic about the museum, who have also helped me to learn a lot about working in a museum.

I started my week with helping to photograph and log some of the museums collection of medals from both World War One and World War Two. This was particularly interesting as I was able to see these parts of history up close.

Another exciting activity I was able to be involved in was painting a wooden cut out of Sherlock Holmes. Now, you might be thinking, what does Sherlock Holmes have to do with a museum about local munitions factories and the World Wars? Well, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a war correspondent and had visited the HM Factory in Gretna during the first World War. This led him to coin the phrase “devils porridge” to describe the material that the people at the factory worked with to make cordite and has been a widely used nickname for the the mixture since then.

I have also really enjoyed working in customer service areas of the Museum such as on the front desk or in the café, where I have been able to talk to many lovely customers and friendly staff. I’ve also learnt so much about the marketing and social media aspect of the museum, and have been able to see how clubs such as the Cordite Club run.  This was extremely fascinating to see how hard-working the staff here are to deliver the best possible activities, posts and events.

There is so much you can learn from just one visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum, so I think its safe to say I will be leaving my week of work experience with heaps of new knowledge and a much greater understanding of the history of the area and about the behind the scenes of a museum.

Monthly Roundup to 23rd March to 19th April 2026 graphic with the museum Logo. This includes photos of a munitions worker and soldier craft activity, a trench Lego model and a separate display of assorted Lego models in The Devil's Porridge Museum's education room.

Monthly Roundup 23rd March to 19th April 2026

By Archive

Time for our next roundup. This Monthly Roundup is for 23rd March to 19th April 2026. Expect lots of Lego and an a couple of egg-citing craft workshops too!

***

Monday 23rd March

A huge shout-out goes to our amazing volunteer Wendy. Every term-time Monday she runs our free term-time Arts and Crafts Club for young people at The Devil’s Porridge Museum and this week was no different.

***

Tuesday 24th March

You may be this week we have Warhammer Club.

 

A table set up with paints , water and paintbrushes for Warhammer miniatures.

***

Thursday 26th March

Excellent to welcome a group of ten to The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. It was fantastic to meet you all! We were delighted with your kind feedback about The Devil’s Prorridge Museum too. Thank you for taking the time to come and visit us.

***

Tuesday 31st April

Warhammer Club is continuing all the way through the Easter school holidays. It’s free and runs 6pm to 8pm.

 

***

Wednesday 1st April

It was lovely to be joined by some families and young people for some Spring and Easter themed crafts in the afternoon. We loved meeting you all and seeing what you created!

This was at our free Easter Craft Activities workshop.

***

Tuesday 7th April

Warhammer Club was running at The Devil’s Porridge Museum today. Thanks to those who help to make this possible every week.

***

Wednesday 8th April

Those who visited us today could make poseable cardboard munitions workers or soldiers during their visit as part of a drop-in activity. Thanks to all those who took the time out of their visit to join us for some Wartime Character Crafts.

***

Thursday 9th April

In the afternoon, we were delighted to have some young people join us for our fully booked free Lego Interactive Robots Workshop.

 

Three robots made out of Lego. One is humanoid in shape with two legs and eyes. One has wheels and another is snail like. The robots are on a white circle shape. Some Lego is in the background.

***

Saturday 11th April and Sunday 12th April

Our Lego Weekend took place on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th April 2026!

It was fantastic to have so many people visit us over the course of the weekend. We’re delighted to have received excellent feedback for this event, with some people suggesting that we do this again next year. Will we? Let’s wait and see, we still have a few more ideas for events 2026 first…

We’ve taken the chance to extend our Lego minifigure trail, so even if you didn’t have the opportunity to join us for the weekend you can still search for the historical Lego minifigures around The Devil’s Porridge Museum (at the time of writing that is).

In addition to the trail, it was brilliant to see what everyone built during the weekend and we also had a awesome selection of Lego models on display.

Thank you to everyone who loaned and donated Lego models. Plus, we would like to say a huge thank you to all our volunteers for helping to make this event run smoothly!

***

Monday 13th April

Our Cordite Club of retirees and Arts and Crafts Club returned after the Easter school holidays.

***

Tuesday 14th April

This week we had Warhammer Club on in the evening again.

A selection of Warhammer miniatures arranged on a table.

***

Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th April

We were proud to have our Office Manager and Curator representing The Devil’s Porridge Museum at Visit Scotland’s Travel Expo this year.

***

Conclusion

That’s it for this Monthly Roundup! It was fantastic to have so many people join us for our Easter school holiday activities and thank you to everyone who helped to make these possible. Keep an eye on our socials and check our list below. We always have something happening at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Want to find out more about any of the events mentioned in this blog, or wondering what else is coming up soon? We’ve compiled a list for you to find out more.

 

 

 

Lastly you can find out what happened in our previous Monthly Roundup by clicking here>

Some children colouring in at a table.

Easter Crafts Activities 2026

By Archive

When is Easter Crafts Activities 2026?

Join us on Wednesday 1st April 2026 from 2pm to 4pm.

This is a free event, just drop-in and join us.

Our usual admission prices apply for anyone wishing to explore The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

What is Easter Crafts?

Get creative at our free family friendly workshop!

There will be a range of Easter and Spring themed crafting items available and Arts and Crafts team will be on hand to help you! Drop-in and join us to make something you can take home.

Please remember usual admission prices do apply for anyone wishing to explore The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

What to Expect…

What you create may vary, but below are some photos from previous Arts and Crafts activities at our museum!

Other School Holiday Activities…

Here’s some other Easter school holiday activities you may also be interested in:

Cartoon of a soldier and munitions worker waving.

Wartime Character Crafts

By Archive

When is Wartime Character Crafts?

Wartime Character Crafts Wednesday 8th April 2026 from 10am to 4pm (Please remember last entry into our museum is 3.45pm.)

This activity is included with your admission price when you visit The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

What is This Activity?

Take the time for some creativity while exploring the museum and make your own poseable cardboard soldier or munitions worker to take away with you.

Please be aware that admission into The Devil’s Porridge Museum is needed for this activity.

Other School Holiday Activities…

Here’s some other Easter school holiday activities you may also be interested in:

Two evacuee Lego minifigures stood in front of a WW1 plane.

Lego Weekend

By Archive

When is our Lego Weekend?

Our Lego Weekend will be on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th April 2026.

This will be on from 10am to 4:30pm. Remember last entry into our museum is 3.45pm.

What will happen at our Lego Weekend?

Join us for a whole weekend celebrating all things Lego!

During the weekend you’ll be able to:

  • See local history and legends recreated in Lego.
  • Help us build some new models ( or build your own creation for us ) from our supply of bricks.
  • Explore our brand new trail of historical Lego minifigures. Can you follow the trail and spot them all hidden around The Devil’s Porridge Museum?

The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s usual admission prices do apply to this event. Find our opening hours and prices by clicking here>

 

A poster for a Lego Weekend happening at The Devil's Porridge Museum on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th April 2026. Join us to celebrate all things Lego. See local history and legends recreated in Lego. Build our bricks. Brand new historic minifigure trail around The Devil's Porridge Museum. The Devil's Porridge Museum's usual admission prices and opening hours do apply.

Do you have a Lego model you would like to display?

Have you ever fancied having your own Lego creation on display in an actual museum? It could be either for the whole weekend or just a couple of hours. Still interested? We would love to hear from you!

Please contact Tom Hughes, our Youth and Community Engagement Officer to arrange this by emailing education@devilsporridge.org.uk or calling 01461 700021

Letting us know if you plan to bring your own Lego creation along in advance helps us ensure we have a suitable space for your model. Unfortunately, we do not have unlimited space so may not be able to house Lego models without forewarning! Thank you for your understanding.

 

Other School Holiday Activities…

Here’s some other Easter school holiday activities you may also be interested in:

Three robots made out of Lego. One is humanoid in shape with two legs and eyes. One has wheels and another is snail like. The robots are on a white circle shape. Some Lego is in the background.

Interactive Lego Robots – FULLY BOOKED

By Archive

When is Interactive Lego Robots?

Thursday 9th April 2026

2pm to 4pm

This is for 8 to 12 year olds.

Tickets for this activity FREE, but booking is essential. To book your place please press ‘Book Now’ and select Interactive Lego Robots.

If you need help booking please contact 01461 700021

What is Interactive Lego Robots?

Build and program Lego robots in this fun FREE workshop!

Try out some simple coding using Lego WeDo software on iPads and interactive bricks to make your creations come to life.

This activity is for children aged 8 to 12 years old.

Tickets for this activity are FREE, but booking is essential and places are limited.

Please be aware that usual admission prices do apply to anyone wishing to explore The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

How to book

Tickets are FREE, but booking is essential. To book your place please press ‘Book Now’ and select Interactive Lego Robots.

If you need help booking please contact 01461 700021

Please be aware that usual admission prices do apply to anyone wishing to explore The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

 

Other School Holiday Activities…

Here’s some other Easter school holiday activities you may also be interested in:

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