Moving weekend for Museum of Making as hundreds of people show up for grand reopening

The hotly anticipated Museum of Making’s relaunch has seen hundreds of visitors pass through the doors in its morning session since opening doors at 10am on Friday.

The popular tourist landmark which reopened following significant damage from Storm Babet in October 2023, has been closed for three months.

The foyer was packed and seating was at full capacity at the on-site eatery River Kitchen. 

Read more: What's on in Derby?

The mood of staff and visitors alike was upbeat with a Sinfonia Viva concert scheduled in the afternoon to kick off celebrations. 

Roy Gillatt had travelled from Mickleover to attend the concert. 

He said: “I heard about the concert this morning and I had to come, I am very much looking forward to it. It is the first time I have visited the area in 50 years. 

“From what I can remember, there used to be a power station here with big chimneys, and swimming baths on Queen Street. When I saw the Museum of Making, I thought, oh gosh, everything is very, very good.”

Jim from Derby was another enthusiastic visitor. He said: “Having the Lego exhibition is inspiring, it will bring the kids and parents too. I heard the orchestra warming up, I feel inspired and elated because I had a really great day.

“We need more of this, we need venues to put music on and events, so more people will come and hear about it. The people are there, we just need more things happening and people will come.”

Mo Pickering-Symes, from Derby was also a happy visitor on the Museum of Making’s first day of opening.

She said: “I am delighted to be back at the reopening. Sinfonia Viva are performing, staff are smiling, there is a real buzz in the building.”

Dr Alex Rock, director of commercial and operations was on-site to oversee the first day of opening. 

Dr Alex, 37, from Derby said: “Today has been really exhilarating and the response has been really quite moving. People through the doors have expressed nothing but love.

“This morning, our first visitor was a three-year-old boy, who walked through the door. As he glanced upwards at the ‘exploded’ Toyota Corolla car hanging from the ceiling, his jaw hit the floor in amazement.

“His reaction and the wider public response makes everything that we do, worthwhile. It is a huge huge relief to get people through the doors, after what has been a difficult few months.

“We would like to thank everyone who has supported us in the past few months.”

The busy opening day is a sign of things to come.

Over 450 people passed through the doors and the museum is expecting to hit a footfall of 1,000 people over the weekend.

An exhibition that is one of the crowd pullers is the Lake District replica made entirely of Lego.

Reflecting on the heritage of the museum, Dr Alex said: “We use heritage of the past to positively impact the future.

“We think the stories we tell in this building have the power to inspire the next generation of builders. Creativity is a driving force here, I see real value in change. And of course, we have Sinfonia Viva, the East Midlands-based orchestra sound-tracking our opening!”

Derby Museum of Making is now open to the public.

For information about Museum of Making's opening hours, and upcoming exhibitions, visit their website by clicking here.