Hello again Maurice
A little story:
I took my son to the ThinkTank shortly after it opened in hope that a little practical knowledge from Birmingham’s premier new ‘shiny place’ would assist with his school work.
To my sadness and anger, I found the place an exemplar of 'style over substance', with information that was ephemeral, truncated, and poorly researched. Info on Birmingham's industrial history was negligible, and what captions there were riddled with errors, buzz-words, and misrepresentation (presumably in the name of easy-to-read brevity). The older exhibits imported from Newhall Street were either turned into glorified climbing frames or shown as quaint and irrelevant freak-show artefacts.
But by golly, was it interactive? Kids wiggled a section of a giant CD around: A sound came out. Buttons were pressed, lights lit, stuff happened. Much merriment. What was learned? Bugger all. It was just a glittering playground. The packaging was immaculate.
Mix this with high admission costs (even then), the constant un-damped racket made by other visitors and exhibits (which made even the very limited information available impossible to absorb), and it would be fair to say that our time and my money were wasted.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not a fan of pointless nostalgia as I think that is as much of a mug's game (and an industry) as anything else. Back at Newhall Street though, you could take time to roam around and take things in. In the ThinkTank there was always the next whizz-bang blitzing any forming thought. Scant knowledge was bestowed in easy-to-chew portion-controlled servings. I felt like I was being treated like a sheep in there (including the sensation of being fleeced).
I freely admit that I may be doing the place as it is now a gross injustice. My visit was quite some time ago, and I have not returned to ThinkTank. I understand that it has since won an award: Fair enough. The trouble is that my wife (a science teacher) has visited the place with classes many times recently and has just informed me that my bleak assessment is all too accurate.
Both my son and I now obtain our science and history fixes from locations where reading words of more than two syllables is not treated as a symptom of social maladjustment.
I sincerely hope that the place has improved since my visit. The indictment of ThinkTank for me is that I'm in no hurry to spend £12.25 to find out.
All the best
Graham. :devilish: