"Myths And Legends At The Salt Museum"

Today I've been writing poetry in the Salt Museum. www.saltmuseum.org.uk

And I've also now met another Cheshire Poet Laureate.

Jo Bell, the present one ( see my previous post) ran a superb poetry workshop at the museum basing her session on " Myths and Legends of Cheshire" .

This theme coincided with a current exhibition on that topic, which runs at the Salt Museum until September 2nd.

In Cheshire, salt has been produced for over 2,000 years; the museum, based in Northwich for over a century, tells this story and shows us people whose lives (in various ways) were involved with salt.

Originally, the museum was in the local library ( the Brunner) but this actually subsided due to salt extraction.

In the 1970's, Cheshire County Council bought Weaver Hall, where both the Museum and the library have been housed since. ( see photo above: the museum's original title remains above its doors) Weaver Hall was once a workhouse; there is no trace of this now, although an exhibition depicting it remains.

The atmosphere throughout the museum is bright and spacious, its displays, compelling; we can, too, fully appreciate this attractive Grade 11 listed building.

The Myths and Legends Exhibition is a lively one; we see vivid pictures, read resumes of stories ranging from spine-chilling to mystifying to ( frankly) hilarious ones, we see colourful puppets and wonderful old books ; Jo Bell built our workshop on all this, throwing in a handful of fabulous exercises too, so that we enjoyed ( hugely) a satisfyingly creative time..

Writing poetry is not something I do very often, neither is visiting the Salt Museum ( in fact, I'd never been there before...) but I've had a lovely day.