Exhibition tells tragic story of the Titanic (From Darlington and Stockton Times)
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Exhibition tells tragic story of the Titanic
9:00am Monday 8th October 2012 in News
By Hannah Bryan, Reporter (Darlington)
ALL ABOARD: Mayor and Mayoress of Darlington Paul and Kim Baldwin open the Titanic exhibition
A NATIONAL touring exhibition telling the tragic story of the Titanic and her sister ships has docked in the North-East.
Titanic Honour and Glory – voted by The Times as one of the country’s top five exhibitions – was formally opened at the weekend at Darlington’s Head of Steam museum by town mayor Paul Baldwin.
The opening of the exhibition, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the tragedy, saw members of Darlington Operatic Society perform songs from their recent Titanic musical production.
They included Peter Barron, editor of The Northern Echo, who played the role of his predecessor, William Stead, in the production.
As one of the most famous British men to go down on the Titanic, and a former editor of The Northern Echo, Stead is one of the many links between Darlington and the doomed ship.
After the opening, Councillor Baldwin said: “I am really proud that Darlington has been chosen to host this exhibition and it is quite a privilege to have it come here to the Head of Steam.
“There are a number of Darlington links to the Titanic which a lot of people don’t realise.
For example, the rudder was made by Darlington Forge Company, which is just down the road from the museum.”
The exhibition features a number of artefacts from the Titanic and her sister ships, including a first-class dining room chair and a letter written on the ship before it sank, as well as props used in the James Cameron film, Titanic.
Museum manager David Tetlow said: “We are really pleased to be hosting this exhibition.
It has been to some big cities, including Belfast and Southampton, so to have it come to Darlington is brilliant.
“We hope people will come down and discover something new they didn’t know about the ship and its links with Darlington.”
The exhibition began its UK tour in 2002 and came to Redcar’s Kirkleatham Museum, in east Cleveland, in 2006, when it attracted more than 32,000 visitors.
Titanic Honour and Glory will be open Wednesdays to Sundays, from 11am to 3.30pm, until March 31 and normal museum entrance fees apply. For more information, call the museum on 01325-460532, email headofsteam@darlington.
gov.uk or visit head-of-steam.
co.uk
