The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery

Harold Holdway was a designer at the Copeland factory from the 1930s until his retirement, becoming Chief Designer in 1940 and Art Director in 1956. One of his most successful designs was this pattern of leaping reindeer. As Santa prepares to take out his sleigh tomorrow what could be a more suitable pattern than this to remind us to leave a carrot out for Rudolph and his friends tomorrow?

The museum closes this afternoon until 2nd January but our Facebook posts this year concentrate on our display ‘A Winter Wonderland’. Among the items is this tile, designed by William Wise in the early 1880s and produced by the Minton factory. It shows a young woman holding a bunch of holly and we also have Wise’s preparatory drawing for the tile so one can see how the design has changed from the initial pencil drawing to the final print.

If you enjoy Afternoon and Cream Teas then here is a list of our special Sunday afternoon activities taking place at the museum early next year.

Our new What’s On guide is now available at the museum covering all our exhibitions and events from Jan – April. It includes details of our Chinese New Year celebrations, February half-term events and Easter activities.

Here is our list of Friday Twilight events for the New Year which include theatre performances, music in our café and a Murder Mystery evening.

The museum will close at 5pm this Saturday (22 Dec) for the Christmas break and will re-open again on Wednesday 2 Jan at 10am. We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you again in 2019.

Our first Friday Twilight event for 2019 will be on Friday 18 January when ‘Don’t go into the Cellar’ theatre group return with A Pandemonium of Poe, an original theatrical anthology of a selection of Edgar Allan Poe's finest feats of fear-filled fiction. Performance 7.30 – 9.30pm, please call 01782 232323 to book, tickets £10.

On Tuesday 26 February we are planning to hold a Ceramic Careers event at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery from 10:30am-2pm. We are inviting companies, artists and manufacturers who work with ceramics to inspire a future generation by promoting their work to local Secondary students. We would like to show students the variety of jobs available within the creative industry and to showcase the work that you do. Secondary Schools will be invited to bring students to the museum... to learn more about the work you do throughout the allocated time that day. We envisage it to be like a market place of stall holders full of companies to make students think differently about what it means to work with ceramics. Please get in touch by January 9th if you would like to showcase your work and inspire a future generation to take up a career linked to ceramics. email museumeducation@stoke.gov.uk
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There was a lot of messy fun on Wednesday at our Messy Museum, Christmas themed session. Children played with minty reindeer food, gingerbread salt dough, manger animals in gloopy snow and lots more. The next session is Wednesday 23rd January. £3 per child. 10:30am-12:00pm Booking essential, payment on booking- please ring 01782 232323

Our bar will be serving a very festive range of cocktails this Friday evening, so come along and get into the Christmas spirit. Bar opens at 6pm.

Sometimes an object just catches your eye. Today's blog post explores a WW1 nurses's autograph book
http://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/pmag/a-nur ses-autograph-book/

Here is a little preview of the Christmas Ghost Stories presentation this Friday. Tickets £19.95, please call 01782 232323 to book. Price includes a two course festive buffet served from 7pm followed by theatre performance 8 ‐ 10pm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBTjyQla6 SA #ChristmasinStoke

Psst - a word in your 'shell-like' our new exhibition on the sculptor Gilbert Ledward RA - opens tomorrow Sat 8th Dec ! Celebrating 250 years of the Royal Academy: "Visions in Stone" with loans from Leeds Museums and Galleries. Tickets £3-5 U16 free #RA250 #RA250UK

We're proud to be #FantasticforFamilies thanks to the Family Arts Standards www.familyartsstandards.com. #familyarts

This Saturday (8 Dec) at our Georgian Christmas event children can make a sealed clay Christmas box they can keep their coins in, then smash when they want to get their money out. Drop in 11am-3pm, £1.50.

Put on your Christmas jumper and join us at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery for a festive messy midweek session for pre-school children. The next session will be messy fun with a festive theme on Weds 12 December. Cut Christmas shapes out of gingerbread salt dough, play in glitter jelly and cornflour snow. Make a clay Rudolph head to take home and enjoy a festive story and song. £3 per child. 10.30am – 12.00pm Booking essential - please ring 01782 232323.

Our December trail has started at the museum. Ozzy has written his Christmas wish list. Try and find all the items on his list. £1 per trail and includes a free pencil.

Discover the customs and traditions celebrated by the Georgians at Christmas at our special event on Saturday 8 December. Meet two costumed characters preparing for the Festive party as they create decorations from paper and greenery, make gingerbread and decorate the cake. Free, 11am – 4pm.

A new exhibition has just opened at the museum featuring paintings by Staffordshire Artists referencing the four seasons of the year and showcasing work produced by the group within the last two years. Exhibition continues until Sunday 24 Feb.

What a wonderful day and a bargain. Went to the princess tea party today and had a ball. It was great fun dressing up and the food was lovely. The princesses were just amazing. Highly recommend this event. Thank you so much.

Went to the Murder Mystery event last night #MowCopPlayers.

It was great fun, full of laughter and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. To top it off the 3 course meal was delicious and the wine was very reasonably priced. I will definitely be returning.

Well laid out, with an excellent selection of exhibits.



Pride of place must go to the "Staffordshire Hoard", where the superb workmanship of the items on display proves that the "Dark Ages" were anything but!



Tucked away downstairs is a late version Spitfire which looks as though it is being restored. It is accompanied by an interesting display of memorabilia from the Battle of Britain.



I briefly saw what looked like a fascinating historical display of artefacts going back to the Stone Age, but time prevented me from examining it properly. I will however definitely be back, so will see it then.



Parking in the area is a nightmare, so the easiest thing to do is to park in Tesco, & then walk the five minutes to the Museum.



Highly recommended, & well worth a visit!

We have always visited here, not just for the events like Chinese new year, sometimes just a quick mooch for an hour. We attended the CSI Science in the War event on Saturday 1st April. WOW! My son, neice and nephews, and parents all attended and absolutely loved it all!! So much to do, so well organised. Brilliant xx

We attended the Easter clay bunny making activity. The children really enjoyed it. For £1.50 per child it's an absolute bargain! No cleaning up etc for parents. Activities are very well organised. My only advice is call before you go and check how busy activities are if you are taking smaller children. A clean venue and the museum has lots to offer those that wish to explore.

Visited the museum for the jungle book afternoon tea party it was absolutely fantastic all the actors did a terrific job of staying in character whilst managing to involve and entertain all of the children and the food was lovely already planning a trip back to the cafe for some more of the cakes all round well organised event

Very interesting and friendly Museum. Highlights included the Staffordshire Hoard, the collection of creamers and the work by Lowry. Also loved the Statue of Arnold Bennett outside. Sorry to have missed the real spitfire. Great gift shop.

Really great trip out. The clay activity for the kids was brill and good price at £1.50 each. The museum itself is fab as it's free entry and the kids loved the nature and animal section, spent ages looking at the different bugs and things. They really like the interactive parts, dressing up and doing the jigsaws. We've been a few times and they love it every time.

Really good museum, great for young and old. Enjoyed the ITV Victoria exhibition and the cafe was nice too. All the staff were lovely.

Myself, daughter and 2 year old granddaughter attended the afternoon tea party with a surprise visit from Disney Princess's. Lovely Time with friendly helpful staff, and yummy cakes and sandwiches. Very child friendly

My kid loves the museum, it’s free entry too with a variety of events throughout the school holidays at a low cost and free entry. The kids are learning without even realising it, plenty of interactive learning posts, games and trails and an outdoor secret garden for them to explore. A magical day out.

Me and my friend had the pleasure of bringing our little princesses Freya and Ava to your Princess tea party, it was wonderful we all had a fantastic time and will be looking out for future events you hold. Wonderful service and food was gorgeous, the princesses were so attentive and lovely.

Love this place, the atmosphere and exhibits are great and there's plenty to keep little ones inspired and spark conversation.

I would like to say a big Thank You to all involved with the Fairy-tale afternoon tea event held at the Museum on Sunday. We took our daughter for her 4th Birthday and she absolutely loved it! The personal touches and fantastic interaction from the Princesses created a magical atmosphere and memories we will treasure. The catering team were so attentive and the food and cakes were lovely. Thank you again and I would highly recommend this event to others. We will definitely be back.

Great day yesterday at the T-Rex Dinosaur event = 2 happy boys. Lots of other exciting things to do either side of the show. Looking forward to a return visit soon - highly recommended �

Fantastic place! So glad we visited with our children (6 and 3). Child friendly, informative and the staff were wonderful 🖒🖒

Been to the Chinese event today and I was so pleased. We all had a brilliant time! The performers were great and thought it was lovely how they were happy to have plenty of pictures taken whilst the performance was on and afterwards. I also take my hat off to a Lady and gentleman downstairs in the school hall area, they were accepting paper with names on in which they were translating them into Chinese. The amount of names they must have wrote today. Myself and family members are very greatful for ours. And I will treasure my translation as i truely love the Chinese culture. So whoever you maybe that organised today's event and insured it run smoothly did a brilliant job. Thank you for making my children's eyes light up with excitement and a brilliant event!

Attend the dinosaur event on Tuesday , with children age 6 & 4 . We thought it was great !



Such a shame it was cut short by the rain . But this gave us time to visit the museum for our 1st time .

We loved it , plenty to keep the children entertained

This was an enjoyable experience on a wet day. Starting with Staffordshire oatcakes for lunch at a very reasonable price then the small but interesting art collection. Lots of pottery exhibits as you would expect and the activities for children were going very well. Pleasant friendly staff, first time I have been called sug, short for sugar?

What a wonderful day and a bargain. Went to the princess tea party today and had a ball. It was great fun dressing up and the food was lovely. The princesses were just amazing. Highly recommend this event. Thank you so much.

Went to the Murder Mystery event last night #MowCopPlayers.

It was great fun, full of laughter and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. To top it off the 3 course meal was delicious and the wine was very reasonably priced. I will definitely be returning.

Well laid out, with an excellent selection of exhibits.



Pride of place must go to the "Staffordshire Hoard", where the superb workmanship of the items on display proves that the "Dark Ages" were anything but!



Tucked away downstairs is a late version Spitfire which looks as though it is being restored. It is accompanied by an interesting display of memorabilia from the Battle of Britain.



I briefly saw what looked like a fascinating historical display of artefacts going back to the Stone Age, but time prevented me from examining it properly. I will however definitely be back, so will see it then.



Parking in the area is a nightmare, so the easiest thing to do is to park in Tesco, & then walk the five minutes to the Museum.



Highly recommended, & well worth a visit!

We have always visited here, not just for the events like Chinese new year, sometimes just a quick mooch for an hour. We attended the CSI Science in the War event on Saturday 1st April. WOW! My son, neice and nephews, and parents all attended and absolutely loved it all!! So much to do, so well organised. Brilliant xx

We attended the Easter clay bunny making activity. The children really enjoyed it. For £1.50 per child it's an absolute bargain! No cleaning up etc for parents. Activities are very well organised. My only advice is call before you go and check how busy activities are if you are taking smaller children. A clean venue and the museum has lots to offer those that wish to explore.

Visited the museum for the jungle book afternoon tea party it was absolutely fantastic all the actors did a terrific job of staying in character whilst managing to involve and entertain all of the children and the food was lovely already planning a trip back to the cafe for some more of the cakes all round well organised event

Very interesting and friendly Museum. Highlights included the Staffordshire Hoard, the collection of creamers and the work by Lowry. Also loved the Statue of Arnold Bennett outside. Sorry to have missed the real spitfire. Great gift shop.

Really great trip out. The clay activity for the kids was brill and good price at £1.50 each. The museum itself is fab as it's free entry and the kids loved the nature and animal section, spent ages looking at the different bugs and things. They really like the interactive parts, dressing up and doing the jigsaws. We've been a few times and they love it every time.

Really good museum, great for young and old. Enjoyed the ITV Victoria exhibition and the cafe was nice too. All the staff were lovely.

Myself, daughter and 2 year old granddaughter attended the afternoon tea party with a surprise visit from Disney Princess's. Lovely Time with friendly helpful staff, and yummy cakes and sandwiches. Very child friendly

My kid loves the museum, it’s free entry too with a variety of events throughout the school holidays at a low cost and free entry. The kids are learning without even realising it, plenty of interactive learning posts, games and trails and an outdoor secret garden for them to explore. A magical day out.

Me and my friend had the pleasure of bringing our little princesses Freya and Ava to your Princess tea party, it was wonderful we all had a fantastic time and will be looking out for future events you hold. Wonderful service and food was gorgeous, the princesses were so attentive and lovely.

Love this place, the atmosphere and exhibits are great and there's plenty to keep little ones inspired and spark conversation.

I would like to say a big Thank You to all involved with the Fairy-tale afternoon tea event held at the Museum on Sunday. We took our daughter for her 4th Birthday and she absolutely loved it! The personal touches and fantastic interaction from the Princesses created a magical atmosphere and memories we will treasure. The catering team were so attentive and the food and cakes were lovely. Thank you again and I would highly recommend this event to others. We will definitely be back.

Great day yesterday at the T-Rex Dinosaur event = 2 happy boys. Lots of other exciting things to do either side of the show. Looking forward to a return visit soon - highly recommended �

Fantastic place! So glad we visited with our children (6 and 3). Child friendly, informative and the staff were wonderful 🖒🖒

Been to the Chinese event today and I was so pleased. We all had a brilliant time! The performers were great and thought it was lovely how they were happy to have plenty of pictures taken whilst the performance was on and afterwards. I also take my hat off to a Lady and gentleman downstairs in the school hall area, they were accepting paper with names on in which they were translating them into Chinese. The amount of names they must have wrote today. Myself and family members are very greatful for ours. And I will treasure my translation as i truely love the Chinese culture. So whoever you maybe that organised today's event and insured it run smoothly did a brilliant job. Thank you for making my children's eyes light up with excitement and a brilliant event!

Attend the dinosaur event on Tuesday , with children age 6 & 4 . We thought it was great !



Such a shame it was cut short by the rain . But this gave us time to visit the museum for our 1st time .

We loved it , plenty to keep the children entertained

This was an enjoyable experience on a wet day. Starting with Staffordshire oatcakes for lunch at a very reasonable price then the small but interesting art collection. Lots of pottery exhibits as you would expect and the activities for children were going very well. Pleasant friendly staff, first time I have been called sug, short for sugar?