Museums & Exhibitions
around Greater Manchester

The Manchester Jewish Museum

190 Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester M8 8LW.
Telephone: 0161-834 9879

Open: Mon-Thurs 10.30-400. Sunday 10.30am-5.00pm Closed Saturdays andJewish Holidays. Please check opening times as they may have changed.

The Manchester Jewish Museum tells the history of Jewish people in Manchester since the 18th century. It has a collection of photographs, documents and room settings which help visitors gain an impression of the people who arrived here during various periods of Jewish immigration - largely as a result of European wars and anti-Semitic pogroms.

There are also telephone handset recordings of memories from earlier this century, made by Manchester inhabitants who lived through those times. The museum was originally a Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue which was built in 1874, but it has been a museum since 1984.

The downstairs synagogue has been fully restored to its original splendour with lavish Moorish décor and fine stained glass. Upstairs is a permanent exhibition of Manchester's Jewish history.

An admission charge is payable. Groups should be booked in advance. Temporary exhibitions are frequently held, Educational Service, Guides, Shop, Car Parking, Evening visits by arrangement. Disabled access to ground floor only.

Museum of the Manchesters

Town Hall, Market Place, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 6DL.
Telephone: 0161-342 3078 & 3710.

The Museum of the Manchesters tells the story of the Manchester Regiment in an imaginative and visually stimulating manner. It traces the history of the 63rd and 96th Regiments of Foot, from the 18th century to its becoming the Manchester Regiment in 1881. It continues to trace its history for 200 years until its amalgamation with the King's Liverpool Regiment in 1958.

Exhibits include a reconstructed First World War trench dugout (pictured below), with all the sounds, light and smells! There is also a reconstructed Second World War air raid shelter. Other displays depict the Napoleonic Wars, the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 and the Chartist Movement of the 1840s. This led to the building of the barracks at Ashton, where troops could be on hand to quell any potential riots. There is also a reconstruction of a typical middle class sitting room of about 1940. There are also collections of military uniforms on display and numerous illustrations.

The museum contains one of the finest collections of military awards and medals in the North West of England, gained by men serving in the Regiment, and won for campaigns in the West Indies, Afghanistan, India and Africa, including five original Victoria Crosses.
There are video presentations showing life as a soldier and as a civilian during the two World Wars. Admission is free, and there is disabled access by prior arrangement. Ample town centre car parking behind the Market Hall opposite (paying).

The museum also stocks a wide range of specialist books relating to the Manchester Regiment, as well as souvenirs and postcards.

Bury Museum

Moss Street, Bury BL9 0DR.
Tel: 0161-253 5878. Fax: 0161-253 5915.

The main feature of the Bury Museum and Art Gallery is probably the Thomas Wrigley Collection of Victorian oil paintings, which includes the work of many world celebrated great artists including Turner, Constable and Landseer.

The Museum itself has a distinctive approach to display, with rooms being laid out in imaginative and realistic settings, which reflect the changing social history of the locality - illustrated left are two such settings : one a Victorian kitchen with furnishings and contemporary products carefully arranged to produce an authentic sense of period; the other is a representation of a period toy shop.

The Gallery organises a regular changing programme of events and exhibitions. Free entry.

Located in the town centre, the Museum and Gallery are well signposted. Access from the motorway network by exiting at Junction 2 on the M66 and following signs for Bury - about 1 mile away.