Our popular Early Years Storytime Group gives families and carers with pre-school children the opportunity to meet regularly throughout the year. 

Join us every Friday (during term time) to read a story together, and take part in a hands-on activity. 

There are extra books and toys available for you to stay and play on the Upper Ground Floor of the Cutter building and the Winding House Café after the session.  

On the first Wednesday of every month, there is live music in the Winding House Café. 

Dave and Ray from 'Three's a Crowd' will be performing a mix of easy listening songs from the 60s and 70s. 

Come and show your support.

May marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day and is also local history month. Join us at Woodhorn to commemorate these and meet other home educator families too. 

Book a workshop to take part in with your child and explore the museum for the rest of the day for free. 

Bevin boys and evacuees: 

Who were the Bevin Boys and why were they important during World War II? Find out about the lives of these conscripted miners, what life was like working down the pit and why coal was so important to the war effort. 

Later, find out about evacuees and their lives during the war. 

Recommended for children aged 8+, but younger children are welcome to join if appropriate. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. 

This workshop may contain air raid siren noises. 

Book your tickets for Bevin boys and evacuees.

WWII Colliery Tour "Bomb Blast":

During World War II a bomb landed on the Walker Fan building at Woodhorn. Find out what happened as we take a tour of the site and look at historical documents. 

Recommended for children aged 8+. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. 

Book your tickets for WWII Colliery Tour "Bomb Blast".

For Terms and Conditions and information on planning your day, visit the Woodhorn Museum website.

While you're here, why not relax in our café with a hot drink and take part in free activities at our mini museums stations?

Every fourth Sunday of the month between 10-11am is Quiet Hour, when there are fewer visitors in the museum and we turn down the sound in our exhibitions and displays. 

We also have ear defenders available for you to borrow, as some of the experiences around the museum can be quite noisy. 

Meet the team from Ridgeside Falconry and see their spectacular birds of prey flying display. 

You'll have the chance to ask the team questions and see the birds of prey up close, in a static demonstration. 

During May half term, you are invited to join makers artists Lottie Smith and Molly Barrett for a hands-on, family friendly workshop. Make your own fun hat or musical instrument ready for the Northumberland Miners' Picnic on Saturday 14 June. 

We're going to replicate the North East community jazz bands of the 1960s and 70s and have our very own Woodhorn Community Band who will perform with Mr Wilson's Second Liners at this year's Miners' Picnic. 

You can make and play your own kazoo or drum, or have fun miming along with the band. 

All materials provided. 

Housed in Woodhorn's stunning Workshop Galleries, the annual Northumberland Open is the largest exhibition of its type in Northumberland. 

The exhibition attracts submissions from artists from across Northumberland and beyond. Works are selected for exhibition by a professional panel of artists and curators who also select an Overall Winner and Highly Commended artworks to be awarded prizes. 

During the exhibition run, thousands of visitors vote for the 'People's Choice Award' which is announced at the end of the exhibition. 

View past winners and highly commended artworks.

This is your chance to get creative during the Easter holidays with a brand new, family friendly art activity. 

At the centre of every miner's home was a kitchen, and at the heart would have been the range. It would provide warmth and comfort on the coldest days, as well as generating heat to cook meals, hot water for a pot of tea or to fill a tin bath to bathe in. 

Inspired by the painters of the Ashington Group who captured these scenes of domestic life in their paintings, you can create your own Victorian cooking range using the drawing and collage materials provided. 

You can find a real range on display in Coal Town downstairs in the museum, and see if you can spot a range in any of the paintings by The Pitmen Painters in the Ashington Group Gallery upstairs. 

A friendly member of staff will be on hand to help but we ask that children are not left unattended, grown ups are invited to get creative too! 

This activity is devised by artist Paul Merrick. 

The Pop Up Ashington Group Hut, designed by artist Imogen Cloët, is inspired by the hut in which the Ashington Group met to make and talk about their artworks. 

Supported by Arts Council England and Northumberland County Council.

Housed in Woodhorn's stunning Workshop Galleries, the annual Northumberland Open is the largest exhibition of its type in Northumberland. 

The exhibition attracts submissions from artists from across Northumberland and beyond. Works are selected for exhibition by a professional panel of artists and curators who also select an Overall Winner and Highly Commended artworks to be awarded prizes. 

During the exhibition run, thousands of visitors vote for the 'People's Choice Award' which is announced at the end of the exhibition. 

View past winners and highly commended artworks.

This is your chance to get creative during the Easter holidays with a brand new, family friendly art activity. 

At the centre of every miner's home was a kitchen, and at the heart would have been the range. It would provide warmth and comfort on the coldest days, as well as generating heat to cook meals, hot water for a pot of tea or to fill a tin bath to bathe in. 

Inspired by the painters of the Ashington Group who captured these scenes of domestic life in their paintings, you can create your own Victorian cooking range using the drawing and collage materials provided. 

You can find a real range on display in Coal Town downstairs in the museum, and see if you can spot a range in any of the paintings by The Pitmen Painters in the Ashington Group Gallery upstairs. 

A friendly member of staff will be on hand to help but we ask that children are not left unattended, grown ups are invited to get creative too! 

This activity is devised by artist Paul Merrick. 

The Pop Up Ashington Group Hut, designed by artist Imogen Cloët, is inspired by the hut in which the Ashington Group met to make and talk about their artworks. 

Supported by Arts Council England and Northumberland County Council.

On the first Wednesday of every month, there is live music in the Winding House Café. 

Dave and Ray from 'Three's a Crowd' will be performing a mix of easy listening songs from the 60s and 70s. 

Come and show your support.

The Northumberland Miners' Picnic is a jam-packed day out for all the family, rooted in our local heritage and re-imagined with a contemporary twist. 

We are delighted to welcome back Mr Wilson's Second Liners to headline the main stage. 

The main stage programme will be announced soon.

Throughout the day: 

• Look out for pop up street theatre performances. 
• Have a go at family friendly activities and get hands-on with objects from the Museum's collections team. 
• Meet the Age UK gardening volunteers - The Woodhorn Weeders and buy some plants for your own garden. 
• Explore the museums, exhibitions and colliery buildings. 
• Relax and enjoy tasty treats from the Winding House Café, special street food stalls or bring along your own picnic. Only alcohol purchased on site can be consumed at the Picnic. Woodhorn Museum is a no smoking and no vaping site. 
• Remember the people, places and industry that brought us the tradition of the Northumberland Miners' Picnic at the Miners' Memorial Service. 

Assistance dogs are always welcome at Woodhorn Museum and family pet dogs may also accompany visitors in the grounds and historic buildings. The picnic is a busy and loud event, so please bear this in mind when deciding whether to bring your dog to the event. 

This event is supported by Arts Council England, Northumberland County Council and Ashington Town Council. 

Every fourth Sunday of the month between 10-11am is Quiet Hour, when there are fewer visitors in the museum and we turn down the sound in our exhibitions and displays. 

We also have ear defenders available for you to borrow, as some of the experiences around the museum can be quite noisy. 

On the first Wednesday of every month, there is live music in the Winding House Café. 

Dave and Ray from 'Three's a Crowd' will be performing a mix of easy listening songs from the 60s and 70s. 

Come and show your support.

The North East of England Classic and Pre War Automobiles club (NECPWA) will be back at Woodhorn with their amazing array of classic cars. 

Get an up close look and meet the owners of the vintage vehicles. 

Woodhorn is a host venue for this event. If you'd like to find out more about your car, please visit NECPWA's website for more information.

Every fourth Sunday of the month between 10-11am is Quiet Hour, when there are fewer visitors in the museum and we turn down the sound in our exhibitions and displays. 

We also have ear defenders available for you to borrow, as some of the experiences around the museum can be quite noisy. 

Enjoy a bitesize tour to introduce you to the inspirational story of the Ashington Group, also known as the Pitmen Painters. 

The tour will also showcase a few highlights from this incredible collection. 

Explore the colliery buildings, learn more about how the site operated and find out more about the daily dangers miners faced. 

We're always interested in hearing your stories too, so come along and share your own knowledge about our coalmining past. 

Although not all of the heritage buildings included in this tour are fully accessible, our staff will adapt the tour so that everyone taking part can discover more about our industrial heritage. Please let the staff leading the tour know how they can help. 

This tour takes place in heritage colliery buildings and although it is suitable for children and adults, we do ask that visitors take care and that children are supervised at all times. 

Access to the winding gear demonstration part of this tour involves climbing steep stairs. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes, and those unable to climb the stairs are welcome to observe the winding gear from the lower level of the winding house. 

If you would like to have a chat about whether this tour is suitable for you or your family/group members, please ask a member of staff, or contact us by telephoning 01670 624455. 

Come and play with our activity trollies. 

You'll find two trollies based upstairs in the Cutter building. 

Each one has drawers containing activities for Little Explorers, Story Tellers, and Curious Curators. Inside these you can find games to play, story prompts and puppets, or curious objects to investigate. 

We have spaces to explore our trollies easily, just take the drawer to a table. What will you find and what stories will you tell?

The trollies are suitable from ages three and up, and are available to play with throughout our opening hours. 

We ask that families sanitise their hands before and after using the trollies, objects or colouring materials. 

You can also find a bookcase of stories available to read while having lunch in the Winding House Café. Look out for the Mini Museum Lunchtime Library at the Cutter building entrance to the Café. 

We are working towards making our Café even better for children, and have been awarded Kids in Museums Family Café Standard. 

The Pit Yard Play Area features a range of accessible play equipment to encourage children of all abilities to interact and learn through movement, sound, vision and memory. The equipment includes: 

• A Pairs Game to build memory skills, themed around Woodhorn's Museum's mining heritage
• A Ferraphone to introduce music and sound
• A Cradle Nest Swing that can accommodate more than one child
• Conference Stations to enable children to communicate across the play site 
• A wheelchair accessible rotating plate 

The Pit Yard Play Area is accessible by a wheelchair and pushchair friendly accessible path, with a small slide linking the path with the lower level site. 

Seating is also available to allow parents and guardians to relax while being close by. 

The Coal Town presents photographs made by social documentary photographer Mik Critchlow (1955 - 2023). Mik documented his home town and community of Ashington over a 45-year period and personally selected these photographs for display at Woodhorn Museum. 

Mik began this extraordinary long term photography project in 1977, after seeing an exhibition by the Ashington Group of artists. 

"They recorded their lives with such honesty, painting the ordinary, the mundane, the everyday and put it all down on paper, on canvas, on hardboard. They showed me that ordinary people's lives could be important and could be seen as art." - Mik Critchlow. 

Mik's work captures the end of the coal mining industry in Ashington and the immediate and longer term impacts of the loss of industry on the town's people, places and community. Mik described making photographs as an 'act of remembrance' and his work provides a poignant record of ordinary people and places across a time of major, social, political, economic and environmental change. 

"After all these many years, I feel that I'm bringing these people back to life again, back home where they all belong." - Mik Critchlow, 2021. 

The Mik Critchlow Coal Town Collection has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Mik Critchlow's family, and through funding from Northumberland County Council and Arts Council England.