Dinosaur exhibition to mark 'Dippy' coming to Rochdale takes shape
Date published: 31 January 2020
The Touchstones exhibition is taking shape
With less than two weeks to go until Dippy the dinosaur arrives in Rochdale, a show stopping exhibition, featuring everything from dinosaur poo and ancient swamplands, is rapidly taking shape at Touchstones Rochdale.
Dippy on Tour: A Natural History Adventure is being brought to the North West and visitors across the UK by the Natural History Museum in partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation, and supported by Dell EMC and Williams & Hill.
Dippy, the world famous Diplodocus dinosaur cast from the Natural History Museum, is currently on a UK tour and will arrive in Rochdale, his only North West stop, on 10 February.
Visitors can meet Dippy at Number One Riverside – the council’s customer service centre, office and library building – and visit The Dippy Exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale.
A new mobile friendly app has been created to guide visitors through Rochdale town centre to connect Number One Riverside and Touchstones Rochdale.
Visitors can learn interesting facts about the historic landmarks that they’ll see on the route, children can complete a quiz to collect Dippy’s bones to complete their own Dippy dinosaur skeleton and learn some fun facts about the natural world and biodiversity linked to the exhibition.
When visitors arrive at Touchstones Rochdale, the exhibition, which takes place across three galleries and is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will allow visitors, both young and old, to engage with interactives and hands on displays as they learn all about dinosaurs and the natural world.
In the dinosaur gallery, visitors can learn more about the Diplodocus and other dinosaurs including the fearsome T.rex, get up close to items such as fossilised bones including teeth, eggs and even dinosaur poo and take a look at world class fossils are on loan from the Natural History Museum and Manchester Museum.
In the Swampland gallery, visitors can travel back to 300 million years ago to see what Rochdale would have been like, exploring an immersive atmospheric space where giant plants grow and strange creatures roam.
See the fossil of the famous Rochdale scorpion, who would have lived in a boggy swampy landscape, and watch as the scorpion ‘comes to life’ through augmented reality!
To compliment this, bog gardens have been created in local parks across the borough and showcase some of the plants and animals that were around when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
In Our Changing Planet gallery, visitors can learn how small changes can make a big difference to the future of our planet, a major theme of Dippy’s stay in Rochdale.
Visitors can celebrate the variety of life on earth by taking in the huge breath-taking knitted bee swarm, a powerful community created feature made up of an amazing 1700 bees knitted kindly by volunteers in our local community and as far as Spain. The swarm of bees highlights the importance of bees for biodiversity.
Both Number One Riverside and Touchstones Rochdale feature a café and a dino-store selling souvenirs inspired by our love of dinosaurs.
Darren Grice Deputy CEO of Link4Life said “Dippy is one of the most iconic (and gigantic) exhibits we can think of so we wanted to make sure the exhibition at Touchstones is one of our most ambitious and exciting ones yet!
The team, with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Natural History Museum, have worked really hard to produce an experience that includes exhibits, digital innovations, events and education.
We think it’s going to be really special and we can’t wait to welcome visitors from across the region and beyond”.
Councillor Janet Emsley, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, community and culture at Rochdale Borough Council said “We certainly do things differently in Rochdale and our approach to Dippy’s visit is no different.
"That’s why we’ve got two fantastic experiences across two venues to create a full morning or afternoon out, which is all free of charge.
"With loads of interactive and hands on elements for children to get involved with, this exhibition is sure to fuel their imaginations. It will get them excited about our planet’s fascinating past and help them understand how to protect it in the future.”
Dippy will be in Rochdale from 10 February to 28 June 2020. The Dippy Exhibition will be extended until to 5th September 2020, for visitors to enjoy throughout the Summer school holidays.
Full details of the exhibition with all activities and events at Touchstones Rochdale can be found at www.visitrochdale.com.
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