A Moving Story - Your New Archives Experience Starts Here!
As the scaffolding comes down and construction work at our new centres in Chester and Crewe moves indoors, focus shifts firmly to finalising the new public spaces visitors will encounter when they first enter the new buildings next year.
Located on the ground floor at both of our purpose-built centres, the permanent exhibition spaces offer an opportunity to discover and explore more about our collections with a curated selection of archive documents, photographs, audio and film recordings.
The Big Story Wall (12 metres long!) acts as an introduction to the stories at the centre of Chester and Crewe communities as told through key items from our collections. The Big Story Immersive is a sensory experience projected across two walls of the new stage areas, blending images from our archive with audio, video and animation, taking the audience on a journey through Chester or Crewe across the centuries.
But wait – there’s more! Exploration of the collection continues in an online exhibition of Cheshire stories for our new website that launches next year. This online experience delves into unique Cheshire stories, some of which you may already be familiar with (cheese, salt mines, Jodrell Bank) but others, not so much (Crewe Blondin the tightrope walker, anyone?)
Over the past few months, the team have been busy selecting some of our most significant, intriguing and visually striking items for the exhibitions. Chester, Crewe and Cheshire in 250 items…it has been a fascinating experience.
If you can’t wait until next year, here’s a sneak peek at some of the images selected so far…
By Paul Frith, Collections Information Improvement Officer
