The Silk Museum Explores Macclesfield’s ‘Astounding Inventions’ for Heritage Open Days

On Saturday 10 September, The Silk Museum invites the public to enjoy a range of free activities around the building and across different venues in Macclesfield as part of Heritage Open Days, England’s largest festival of history and culture. This year, the national theme is Astounding Inventions, with Macclesfield celebrating its status as the birthplace of the deck chair.

Hosting an array of free interactive events across the Saturday, The Silk Museum is running a drop-in workshop hosted by artist Simon Woolham exploring ‘cultures of place through drawing’, wherein visitors can help build a large installation from rubbings withdrawn from textures of the building and its objects. Also, the museum will be revealing its oral histories project for the first time, giving the public access to new stories from townspeople about Macclesfield’s rich history of silk production.

Each identifiable by a deck chair placed outside, various sites around Macclesfield will be available to drop into as part of the Silk Museum’s free Making Macclesfield self-guided walking tour. Alongside the museum itself, the public can stop by St. Michael’s Church in Market Place, Granelli’s Ice Cream on Newton Street and Christ Church on Bridge street to try out new things and discover what makes each of them unique in their contributions to Macclesfield’s innovative heritage.

Available at the Silk Museum and other venues participating in Heritage Open Days, visitors can grab a special postcard – featuring a deck chair to colour in – designed by artist Ruth Lear.

For more information, check out the Silk Museum website.