HALLOWEEN & NATIONAL PATHOLOGY WEEK EVENTS @ THE OLD OPERATING THEATRE
PRESS RELEASE
Thu 30th September 2010 For immediate release
A SERIES OF SPOOKY HALLOWEEN EVENTS & A GLIMPSE OF THE EVENTS FOR NATIONAL PATHOLOGY WEEK AT
THE OLD OPERATING THEATRE MUSEUM & HERB GARRET
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret, Southwark, is running a series of Halloween events for adults and children this October. Running throughout the half term holiday, with a special talks for all ages, all add to the spine-tingling atmosphere of this 19th century surgical theatre in the eerie, wood-beamed attic of an 18th century church.
In November, the museum will host a series of talk as part of the series of events for the National Pathology Week 2010
A comprehensive listing of events is published on the museum's website, at www.thegarret.org.uk.
ENDS
Contact Details
For further information and images please contact Sarah Chaney on tel: 020 7188 2679 or email: curator@thegarret.org.uk
Notes to Editors
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The Old Operating Theatre, Museum and Herb Garret is situated in the attic of the 18th century church of the old St Thomas' Hospital, up a narrow, 32 step spiral staircase. With original oak beams and flooring, and stands renovated in the 1950s, the operating theatre is Britain's only surviving 19th century operating theatre, while the herb garret contains displays on the history of medicine and surgery amid numerous dried herbs and an apothecary workbench.
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The museum is a registered charity, funded by the admission charged. Admission is £5.80 for adults, £4.80 concessions and £3.25 for children, with a family ticket priced at £13.75 (2 adults and up to 4 children).
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The Museum is open daily, from 10:30am – 5:00pm.
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Event Listings are as follows. There is no extra charge for events, which are all presented by curatorial staff and included in the admission price.
HALLOWEEN
Monday 25th, Wednesday 27th and Friday 29th October at 2pm
THE PRESSURE of the KNIFE
The amputation was one of the great capital operations a 19th century surgeon might be called upon to perform. However it was not the only one...
From cutting for the stone and eye surgery to trephining and rhinoplasty,
a talk about the many operations of the early 19th century, the skilled surgeons who performed them,
the brave patients who endured them and the eager students who watched them.
Tuesday 26th and Thursday 28th October at 12pm
BARBERS, BLOOD & BANDAGES
An interactive workshop for children exploring 18th and 19th century medicine!
What did people do before the invention of anaesthetic and antiseptic procedures?
Everyone is familiar with the red and white stripes outside of barber’?s shops...
but do you know what the rotating pole means?
Tuesday 26th October at 2pm
THE MANDRAKE: "Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan"
(King Henry VI- William Shakespeare)
A talk on the magical and mythical plant that has enchanted generations of writers and artists thoughout time. A journey through the use of Mandrake in medicine, folklore and literature, from Shakespeare to Burroughs - from Doctors to Witches.
Join us for a fascinating exploration into the history of the so-called Satan's Apple.
Tuesday 26th October 7-8pm
admission £ 3
WHOSE BLOOD: A PLAY IN DEVELOPMENT
Come along and be part of a play in the making! Visit the historic Old Operating Theatre and see a staged reading of a new play specifically being written and developed to be performed there in early 2011. The play, Whose Blood, is the story of two Ghanaian immigrants who come to London in the 1840s, and when one of them falls sick, they come to St Thomas' Hospital where an assistant surgeon proposes a radical new solution. Whose Blood is a play of shifting desires and allegiances, all played out in a 19th Century Operating theatre."
Thursday 28th October at 2pm (over 15 only)
'ONE NIGHT WITH VENUS, A LIFETIME WITH MERCURY...'
19th Century literature and medical approaches to the disease of love and lust: syphilis.
A talk introducing the impact of syphilis in literary and medical culture, exploring
the different treatments available in hospitals, and the metaphorical influence the disease had on
European writing and poetry.
Saturday 30th October at 2pm
BREAK YOUR LEG AND DIE?
“A patient preparing for an operation was like a condemned criminal preparing for execution.”
A demonstration of an operation without anaesthetics or antiseptics, in Britain’s only
remaining wooden 19th century Operating Theatre.
How will you survive...?
Halloween; Sunday 31st October at 2pm (over 12s only)
BODY SNATCHER
Thoughout the 18th and early 19th century, surgeons and their students sought increased access to anatomy.
But with legal supplies of corpses limited, where could they get their subjects from?...
A talk on the history of the professional resurrectionists, the men who supplied the dissecting rooms of London from the graves of the city, the tricks of the their trade and the stories of their gruesome work.
NOVEMBER EVENTS
November Thu 4th 6.30- 8pm £6
NATIONAL PATHOLOGY WEEK
AUTOPSY
The Final Operation
As well as operating on the living, doctors have always examined the dead to find out more about how the body works and what can go wrong. This is your chance to find out what an autopsy involves and how it has changed over the centuries. You can meet a real pathologist and even handle some of the instruments they use. Join us to find out what doctors can learn from the dead – and how this can help the living.
feedback from the public:
"This was an excellent event – very interesting and enjoyable.
I loved how interactive it was.
Thank you for an amazing time"
.This event is part of National Pathology Week, which is organised by the Royal College of Pathologists and sponsored by Siemens.
Wednesday 10t November at 6.30pm
DEALING WITH THE DEAD
Sentiment Versus Efficiency
A talk by William Edwards, curator of the Gordon Museum of Guys's Hospital, one of the most interesting pathological collection, which includes a vaste range of teaching specimens and beautiful waxes.
PLEASE NOTE:
We strongly advise booking, as places are limited and often in great demand
The museum is very small and has a maximum capacity of only 60 people.
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