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This summer, Mansfield Museum is giving its visitors the rare opportunity to browse the aisles and see some of the extensive collection of artefacts not usually on public display.
Running from Saturday 9 August right through until 1 November; the Baily Bros. exhibition is named after William Edward Baily, who founded the museum in 1904, and is a response to the many requests to see some of the Museum's social history collection on display.
Set out in the style of an early twentieth century department store; visitors will be able to view some of the must have consumer collectables from the last hundred years, including: an early 'mobile' phone from the 1980s – the size of a car battery and almost as heavy; the latest washing machines from the 1920s – with in built mangles to dry your clothes and television sets dating back to the 1940s when small, fuzzy, black-and-white pictures were considered state of the art.
The store's garden department has an advance opening on Saturday 2 August. This section will be open for four weeks providing summer holiday fun including giant outdoor board games (including Connect 4), interactive quizzes and a Mansfield Museum themed Crazy Golf course!
For those who can remember – this is a great opportunity to travel back in time and celebrate the many inventions – some ingenious and some just plain wacky – that shaped life in the twentieth century.
And for those too young to remember a shopping BT (that's before Tesco) – it's a fascinating opportunity to celebrate the everyday objects on offer in store in their parents', or grandparents' day.
For all this, and to be in with the chance of winning a £500 voucher kindly donated by Westgate Department store to spend on furniture, check out the checkouts at Mansfield Museum.
Councillor Kate Allsop, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration at Mansfield District Council is enthusiastic about the exhibition: "The museum receives many requests from visitors to display its social history items and this exhibition will offer the rare opportunity to see them."
"There will be something on offer for all ages and I would encourage everyone to come along to the museum, sample the goods on offer and enter the competition to stand a chance of winning the fantastic prize kindly donated by Westgate Department store."