Home, Sweet Home

In the middle of all the bad news stories this week, here's something good to pass on. Back in 2010, on one of our visits to London, Liz took Bob and me to the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton. [That's East London, not too far from Moorfields Eye Hospital]

This is the 'Museum of the Home' Very cleverly laid out, in a row of old 18thC Almshouses, you walk from one end to the other, seeing eleven different 'domestic' room scenes. Then you can visit the café and the shop, and sit outside in the beautiful gardens [also laid out in different historical settings]. 

The very comprehensive website is here.
However, the Museum have been concerned for some time that they need to upgrade their facilities, in a carefully planned way - adding more study space, a better-laid out café etc. and open up the treasures to a wider audience.

They've just announced that the "Unlocking The Geffrye" Project has obtained almost all the funding needed. The Museum will close at the start of 2018, for around 18 months, and re-open in Autumn 2019.
The visitor space will be increased by 75%, a really significant change. The original architects for this scheme had their somewhat controversial plans refused by Hackney Council in 2013, but now architects Wright&Wright have come up with some more acceptable ideas. Look at these

This new development will benefit the local community and help retain the Museum as an asset for all visitors, for many years to come.
I look forward to visiting again in 2020, ten years after my original trip, just to see how it looks! But maybe I will manage another peek before then, who knows?
The Geffrye Museum is about domestic home life - unlike so many National Trust properties. NT houses often have the upstairs/downstairs feel about them - Lords and Ladies and their elegant rooms, contrasted with the basic bedrooms of manservants and maids. At the Geffrye, you get to see the 'ordinary' rooms, where people lived, worked, ate and slept. 
Thank you to everyone who read my post about the Whitechapel Foundry and signed the petition. I know lots of you have done this, and shared it in your corner of social media. In a bad week,let's focus on some good stuff...Some words from the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4 

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.