Page 26 - link magazine

Swindon Wide
26

Come rain or shine, kids of all ages have plenty to do
at STEAM in the holidays

Aliens, robots, undersea creatures and even fairies will be popping up in the STEAM Museum as children
get creative at the Smiley Cats Kidz Club.
For over 5s, the club will run every Wednesday and Thursday morning, from 29 July to 27 August,
from 9.30am to 1pm. These fun arts, crafts and games sessions are Ofsted registered and run by CRB
checked and NVQ qualified staff.
All craft materials and healthy mid-morning snacks are included in the £12 session price, or £9.50 with
a Swindoncard. Advance bookings are advisable on 466637/466619.
Other family activities at STEAM every day include the museum’s award winning exhibits and displays,
including the interactive signal box, Evening Star and other famous locomotives, plus free family fun quiz
trails.
Climb into the cab of a steam engine and take the controls with a real engine driver at Meet the Railway
Workers sessions on 1, 15 and 29 August.
www.swindon.gov.uk/steam

Looking back on glorious railway days
‘Glamorous and exotic’ are the words used by STEAM’s new exhibition to
describe the holiday destinations promoted during the 1920s and 1930s
by the Great Western Railway.

It explores how the GWR made the GWR through its publicity and
use of the Art Deco styles and tech- customer service during the inter-
niques of the age to promote travel war years.
on the railways as an elegant and And it illustrates the amazing
highly pleasurable experience. skills of workers in Swindon’s GWR
From sumptuous silverware to works who hand crafted the railway
rare publicity booklets, the colour- carriages which carried millions
ful displays evoke the sense of from London to the West Country,
high sophistication achieved by the Cotwolds and into Wales.

Meet a new attraction at butterfly centre
Visitors to Studley Grange Butterfly World are intrigued to meet Iggy the
Iguana lazily watching the world go by.
She hails from Central or South
America but was donated to the cen-
tre earlier in the year and is allowed
to wander wherever she wants in
the steamy tropical environment of
the butterfly centre.
In the wild she would be 40 feet up
at the top of the tree canopy soak-
ing in the sun. At Studley Grange
she’s usually to be found basking
on a stone next to the footpath or
laid out on a bridge watching the
carp in the pond.
“Iggy is a real favourite with the
staff and visitors,” said butterfly as-
sistant Wendy Watt, right. “She’s
happy to be stroked when she’s
in the mood; she doesn’t ever get
lonely because there are always place to go in the holidays and
people around her, and she doesn’t there’s enough to satisfy children
seem to get broody either.” through to grandparents. See the
Studley Grange is always a great advert left for details.

21-52 August 09 Fri 17.indd 26 17/7/09 10:15:14