Bethnal Green, A Fairy Dress and A Crying Dunce

Life's busy in Woolf Villas right now, but recently T and I made the effort and went to Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood.    It's a real bit of Victoriana, with Crystal-Palace style ironwork and a mosaic floor which you will see is in the shape of fish-scales (and originally laid by female prisoners- better than stone breaking or whatever they did in those days,). 

I've always loved this museum, but it only gradually evolved into a children's one.  When I first visited, it had some amazing dolls houses and children's outfits, but there were also many strange old knick-knacks which was very interesting but not much to do with kids.   

A few years ago it had a revamp and ever since then it's been very lively, with displays involving local children as well as the regular exhibits. The current temporary display theme is fairytale nightmares, done with the help of local schools.  I liked the wicked black-plastic-sack crow carrying off the baby here.......

Still on the scary fairy theme, the dolls house (below) is part of the permanent display,and I hadn't seen it before. It was made in 1970 for some children who wanted a magic or ghost dolls' house, with a secret room hideen in the roof. How I'd have loved that! 

And here's an interior of a more traditional Victorian dolls house -  a cosy nursery, I think, despite the shadows and high ceilings. Victorian nurseries usually had plenty of people in them, because the families were so large and the nursemaid slept there too.

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The choice of toys often makes interesting social comments. Look at the way the "Sindy" doll changed over the years. It was originally a sort of British competitor to Barbie (the first Barbie is also on display, below)

and here is Sindy, and how she changed over the years.

This was my favourite out of the stuffed toys. I think he's a fox,and to me those specs make him look like some clever but unscrupulous young intellectual plotting a smart way of wheedling his way into the hen house. 

There are far too many dolls to even mention, some of them hundreds of years old, some highly creative and modern, some just strange. I thought "Blythe"was pretty odd.  She was made for one year in 1972 - hence the trendy kaftan, I suppose. . Not only does she have an unfeasibly huge head and an world weary expression, but you could pull a cord on her back and make her eyes change colour four times. That was all she did.  Weird or what?

The collection of dolls below have a very sad backstory. They are supposed to show Queen Anne and her eighteen children, Queen Anne reigned from 1702-1714 but these dolls are really just wishful thinking, becuase they do not represent real people.  Queen Anne had at least  thirteen miscarriages or stillbirths, and her five children who survived birth, then all died before the age of 11. 

(Quick aside: In the Enchanted Palace at Kensington, which I have mentioned before, there is a display of the model army of the last surviving child, poor little William who was such a brave child who tried so hard to be what was required of him. I really shed a little tear for William. And that whole exhibition is one of the most interesting I've seen lately, so click the link for more details and consider visiting if you like art and history and are in London - but hurry, it closes on January 3)

So here are some of Queen Anne's might-have-been children.

On a more cheerful note, I was glad to see the Big Yellow Teapot, which had a well favoured place in our home. I wonder why they stopped making them, everyone loved them and most households with young children, had one.  As you see, it's a doll's house. I seem to remember its weak point was the hinge on the door, so most of the Big Yellow Teapots you spot these days are minus the door.

 And here is what I would have wanted as a child - already thinking of travelling, perhaps, but doing it in style rather than in the cattle-truck conditions of today's airlines.

There's also a super go-cart, created by an Dutch artist associated with the De Stijl movement, almost too nice to career down the  hill in.

We had a tin road layout rather like this one, although I liked looking at it rather than playing with it.

And as I like cats, I took a fancy to this beautiful child's chair

And this charming teaset, every piece different - so original. (sorry, I can only show part of it)

Puppets are not always toys. The museum displays a large 18th century puppet theatre with almost lifesized puppets (sorry, couldn't get far away enough to get a decent picture of this huge exhibit).  These Japanese puppets certainly are not playthings for kids.

There are also automata  -  here is a French "dunce" from 1860, who wipes away his tears continually and plays a sad tune because he is too stupid at school.

It was a relief to move from this sad scene to a beautiful fairy dress worn by a little girl in the 1920s.  How thrilled beyond words she must have been to prance around and show off in this lovely dress.

The museum has a good cafe, but we always go to the Gallery Cafe in an 18th century house just round the corner, which is run by a local charity called St. Margaret's House Settlement.  It's vegetarian/vegan, very cheap, very good and very popular.   Check out their website here if you live in East London because the charity runs arts and cultural events for young and old, a creative shop called The Create Place, a vintage clothes exchange, and it also does more.

 In the summer you can sit outside the cafe but it's much cosier to go inside when it gets to be November.  Since the museum is free to enter, and the cafe is so cheap and nice, this could be a very reasonably priced London outing, specially if you go by bike, as we did.