Exhibition Road opens up for an animal-themed family day

Families enjoy teddy bear’s picnic - News

Thursday 21 June 2007
By Naomi Weston

Over a hundred children and their parents gathered for a teddy bear’s picnic in Prince’s Gardens for the Exhibition Road Family Party Day on Sunday 17 June.

All the major cultural organisations on Exhibition Road opened their doors for a day of animal-themed family events and birthday celebrations. In addition to Imperial’s celebrations to mark its Centenary, this year also sees the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal College of Art are marking 150 years while the Royal College of Music is 125 this year.

Two giant teddy bears entertained the children in Prince’s Gardens while the adults enjoyed a barbecue and bar plus music by the Sirocco Saxophone Quartet from the Royal College of Music.

There were games for the children to play with, including giant Twister, Connect 4 and Jenga.

The V&A hosted two special talks by Imperial academics with Professor Lord Robert Winston speaking on the differences between humans and animals and Professor Andy Purvis giving an interactive talk on evolution. He told the children about how humans have evolved and introduced them to the work of Charles Darwin.

In addition, the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal College of Art put on animal themed events, from making animal masks to drawing fossils.