Welcome to the Advent Calendar, day 20. Thackray Museum of Medicine is a fantastic museum right on our doorstep.
In May 2021, the Thackray Museum of Medicine reopened after extensive refurbishments (delayed due to Covid, of all things). When it did, it brought in Harehills Mondays, free entry for people who live or work in Harehills on Mondays. All you need is some form of proof of address; a bill or letter will do.
You get access to many galleries and exhibits, including a grimy Victorian Street, a 19th-century operating theatre, a vast array of medical machines, and many fun activities for young people and adults alike. There’s the Sparks play area for under 5’s, where kids can crawl through a digestive system and slide down a pooh slide – it sounds disgusting, but kids will clearly love it!
Once you’ve exhausted yourself, and hopefully your young ones, there’s a lovely cafe selling locally sourced food and a lovely little gift shop. All the staff at the museum are friendly and helpful.
The museum also works with the local community, supporting many of the projects covered in the advent calendar, including the Harehills Winter Welcome and the Writing Our Harehills, and are committed to local engagement.
The Museum building has a fascinating history. It was formerly the main block of the Leeds Union Workhouse, one of the largest and most urban workhouses, with up to 800 poverty-stricken inmates on-site. The workhouse was opened in 1861, and a Poor Law Infirmary was added to care for those too feeble or ill to work. Then it formed part of the St James Hospital in the 40s until the building was no longer up to modern medical standards. Over 130 years after it was built, this building, steeped in medical history, found a new lease of life, becoming the Thackray Medical Museum in the mid to late 90s.
I want to delve into more history, but that is a post for another team. Suffice it to say that history is in this museum’s very bones, not just the displays. You can see evidence of it even in the tiled stairways, with the original tiles in colours and designs created for the workhouse.
It’s a fantastic place to visit, even if you can’t get there on Mondays, an annual ticket is affordable and means you can visit any time for a year. However, suppose you are from or work in Harehills on Mondays. In that case, you can have a free day out for yourself and your loved ones in a lovely warm museum filled with fascinating information, education about the disease, inspirational stories, and the path of modern medicine through history.
You can find out about Harehills Mondays at https://thackraymuseum.co.uk/visit/harehills-mondays/.
Follow Thackray Museum of Medicine on Twitter, Facebook and visit their website to keep up to date on the latest developments, activities and events.
Harehills ❤️ Love 
Leave a comment