Manchester United with South Africa

The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, England, opened in 1983 in a converted 1830's railway building. It has a fascinating collection of scientific and technological exhibits - find out more at : www.msim.org.uk. It has a large interactive gallery called "Xperiment" which was opened in 1987. In June 2002, the gallery was closed for refurbishment, with all the interactive exhibits due to be replaced by new ones. Through contact made possible by British Council sponsored educational links, Derek Fish, Director of the Unizul Science Centre, negotiated for the exhibits to be donated to South Africa. These negotiations began with Bhagwant Singh of the Museum as early as 2000. The British Council further assisted by providing the freight costs to get the exhibits from Manchester to Durban.

Over the past few months, these 40 exhibits have been repainted and rebuilt, and are now displayed in the Old Mutual MTN ScienCentre @ Gateway until the middle of the year, when they will move to Unizul Science Centre. These 40 exhibits, though second-hand, would cost more than a million rand to import:- thus representing a substantial donation from the UK to South Africa. The Tholulwazi Flagship for Arts and Science (comprising the Centres at Gateway and at Unizul) has cooperated to make this dream a reality:- showcasing the power of networking and cooperation.

Derek had the privilege of meeting Ian Russel at the ECSITE Conference in London in November:- the original "inventor" of many of the exhibits - he spoke quite fondly of them as if of long lost children! The exhibits we have obtained though old are of proven worth - they have survived 10 years in a Science Centre (all the bad ones broke long ago!). It's exciting to think of these exhibits being given a new lease of life across the sea:- come and see them if you can - in Durban until July, and after that in Richards Bay.

If you'd like more information on this and other exhibitions at the Unizul Science Centre, do not hesitate to call us at 035-797-3204.

man_united
Waiting for the crowds to arrive!
Some of the exhibits from Manchester in the Gateway Sciencentre.

man_united_opening
Tebogo Gule of the British Council opens the "Manchester Exhibits" at the Old Mutual MTN ScienCentre at Gateway on the 6th of March.

man_united news page revised 2003/03/18 by the webmaster