Melton museum hosts exhibition on iconic Ladybird Books

Visitors to Melton Carnegie Museum have got the chance to enjoy an exhibition about retro favourite, the Ladybird Book, which has already attracted around 25,000 people when it appeared at Charnwood and Harborough Museums.
By Nick Rennie
Published 22nd Jan 2020, 14:46 BST
Updated 24th Jan 2020, 01:29 BST
Display items in the new Ladybird Books exhibition at Melton Carnegie Museum EMN-200122-122731001Display items in the new Ladybird Books exhibition at Melton Carnegie Museum EMN-200122-122731001
Display items in the new Ladybird Books exhibition at Melton Carnegie Museum EMN-200122-122731001

People who remember the popular books from the 1970s and 1980s, or those wanting to discover them for the first time, are being urged not to miss ‘H is for House: Living in a Ladybird Home’, which opened on Tuesday.

The exhibition transports visitors back into the world that will be familiar to millions of people who grew up with Ladybird Books.

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A visit to the exhibition will enable you to see original copies, as well as familiar household items from the era of the 1970s and 80s from the Leicestershire Museums Collection, including a trim phone, Hoover vacuum cleaner and a teasmade.

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Customer Liaison Assistant Jacki Wheat checks out the new Ladybird Books exhibition at Melton Carnegie Museum EMN-200122-122719001Customer Liaison Assistant Jacki Wheat checks out the new Ladybird Books exhibition at Melton Carnegie Museum EMN-200122-122719001
Customer Liaison Assistant Jacki Wheat checks out the new Ladybird Books exhibition at Melton Carnegie Museum EMN-200122-122719001

There will also be the opportunity to recover lost dialling skills on a rotary telephone, have a go at drawing the objects on display to create Ladybird-style illustrations or play in the child-sized kitchen styled on the museum’s 1980s dolls house.

The exhibition will likely appeal to anyone who remembers playing with the same toys as Peter and Jane, wearing the same clothes or ringing their friends on a similar telephone.

H is for House made its debut at Charnwood Museum in 2018. In the 11 weeks it was open, the exhibition saw a total of 18,400 visitors through the doors, making it Charnwood Museum’s most successful display for three years.

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The exhibition also ran at Harborough Museum from February to June last year, when it attracted an impressive 6,500 visitors.

Display items in the new Ladybird Books exhibition at Melton Carnegie Museum EMN-200122-122743001Display items in the new Ladybird Books exhibition at Melton Carnegie Museum EMN-200122-122743001
Display items in the new Ladybird Books exhibition at Melton Carnegie Museum EMN-200122-122743001

Councillor Richard Blunt, the county council’s cabinet member for heritage, leisure and arts, said: “Ladybird Books are fondly remembered by generations of people who read them as children – including me.

“I am delighted the exhibition is now opening in Melton, where even more people will get the chance to see it.”

Entry to the exhibition – which runs until Saturday, April 25 - is free. The museum opens from 10am to 4.30pm Tuesday to Saturday.

Related topics:MeltonPeopleCharnwood