Science and technology museums

Here's a list of some science and technology based museums that are well worth visiting.

Jodrell Bank Observatory near Macclesfield in Cheshire. Radioastronomy and space science. Also contains an arboretum.

National Space Centre in Leicester. Appeared to be aimed more at the primary school level audience when we last visited.

Catalyst in Widnes in Cheshire. Britain's only chemistry museum.

Amberley Museum in Amberley in Sussex. A museum of industrial and craft exhibits. Also contains the BT Connected Earth telecommunications exhibition.

The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. A wide variety of science and industrial exhibits.

Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes. A computer museum located in the same place where the Enigma code was cracked during WWII.

Science Museum in London. Britain's largest science museum.

The Museum of Electricity in Christchurch, Dorset. It's a fascinating place and well worth visiting if you happen to be in the area. One of the curators had read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, but didn't know anything else about AS. I also met up with a HE family who started in September last year because of bullying and the school failing to deal with it.

Hi
We live in Christchurch, so was very interested in your visit and subsequent meeting with an Home Educating family as we have not managed to find anyone in the Christchurch area Home Edding so would be very pleased if you have any info to pass on.

My daughter refused to return to the main Senior School in Christchurch just after Xmas this year, and we had a terrible time - she had depression, aggression, anxiety etc - it was very, very hard work - the school, CAMHS, SS etc were all totally horrid, didnt understand, didnt want to - just wanted her to "conform" and return to school.

When she was at the Junior school she went (so did I as wouldnt go anywhere without me) to the Electric Museum - was very interesting, especially for me seeing all the old electrical appliances I grew up with.

The Jurrassic coastline around Swanage is very interesting, learning how they mined Purbeck stone, and transported it to London on barges etc. The Red House museum in Christchurch is also worth a visit, as is the Priory and the area nearby.

Bovington Tank museum is very good for boy (and some girls like mine!) especially during Summer Hols as they have live tanks on the range firing.

Christchurch and Bournemouth are good places to visit as there are lots of relatively inexpensive places to go, ie Ski Centre and bobbing and ringos - Fun Fair in town with 2 sessions for £5 each - go on as many rides as you can for 3 hours, as well as Thunderworld in Bournemouth. Open Top bus rides which go via toll ferry across from Sandbanks to Swanage and back.

The popularity of home education varies throughout Britain. In some places it is quite popular and active groups exist. In other places it is very uncommon. Last year I encountered a home educating family from Halton - that's Runcorn and Widnes. They knew some home educating families in more middle class parts of Cheshire but had difficulty finding any other home educating families in their town. The council also took a negative view of home education.

I like the Jurassic Coastline as well. I have proposed a trip to Swanage with the local AS support group. Another place I like is Charmouth beach near Lyme Regis where you can find lots of fossils. I first went there back in 1988 on a school trip and still have my collection of ammonites. Stokes Bay near Gosport was a good place to find teeth from Miocene era sharks until the beach got covered over with shingle.

Where do you live? Is it very far from us? We travel to Wiltshire every weekend as my parents live there, close to Stonehenge, though I would recommend Avebury rather than Stonehenge. The canals through Devizes and Pewsey area are well worth a visit. The crop circles this time of year are fantastic if seen from on a hill and looking down.

We had no choice but to Home Ed our daughter as she had what we think was a Nervous Breakdown/severe depression and refused to go back to school - she displayed all the signs that elder Autistic brother had when he was 5/8 years old it was extremely frustrating as she refused to see anyone, became violent and no-one believed us that she was ill - CAMHS suggested that I didnt want her to go to school (even though I asked them for help to get back) six months of sheer hell with Social Services involved insisting on seeing her from a distance. Whilst all this was going on we had to deal with a very ill child who was very depressed and at times violent (just towards me). We were unable to take the Xmas tree down until Easter! I have been unable to move and furniture in the house, everything had to stay the same! (Autism in the extreme or is depression very similar!) Everyone one various forums and people we knew all said that Asperges in girls can suddenly come out at about 12 years old when they go to senior school and are faced with the changes during the school day etc.

We have definately done the right thing by Home Educating her, if I knew about it before I wouldnt have gone through those months of hell between Xmas and Easter (even now she is still not how she was).

I live in the south of Hampshire. I agree with you that Avebury is more interesting than Stonehenge. Are most of these crop circles real or are they fake? I have wondered if real crop circles have some connection with pile direction reversal in carpets. More than once have I encountered a carpet where the direction of the pile is mysteriously reversing.

HE wasn't an option with my parents. I was HE in Y8 following an expulsion from school at the end of Y7 but my parents didn't consider it a desirable situation. During most of my time at school I had undiagnosed depression. Whenever I told people about it they wouldn't believe it so went and said I was being ungrateful and should spare a thought for less fortunate children. My father thinks that intelligent children must go to school and HE is for subnormal children.

Here are a couple of other worthwhile museums although they are not strictly of the science and technology variety.

Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings in Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. Also has the National Telephone Kiosk Collection with examples of every type of GPO and BT telephone kiosk from the 1920's to the present day.

Black Country Living Museum in Dudley. An open air museum with many historical industrial exhibits.