Cannock museum hosting special festive day

The Museum of Cannock Chase will hold its annual family day on Sunday and organisers are expecting hundreds of people to visit.

Visitor services officer Nicola Bannister said: "There are lots of exciting things happening.

"We have Santa here and Snow Queen puppet shows.

"We have got a Wartime Christmas room and a '40s room too and we have also got Meet the Coal Miner's Wife.

"The coal miner is busy down the mine and his wife is left above ground.

"Father Christmas and Mrs Christmas will be in Santa's Christmas Cottage.

"It costs £5 to see Santa on a timed ticket. It's super exciting. The elves created Santa's cottage which is lit up with lights and ready for Santa's arrival."

The museum was once home to the Valley Colliery.

It was used to train thousands of young men who started their working lives as miners in the Cannock Chase coal industry.

Visitors on Sunday will also be able to check out the sprawling green space on the edge of the Chase, close to the Hednesford Hills Nature Reserve.

A caricature artist Cliff will be at the museum providing people with their own portraits.

Face painting will also be provided by Pow Wow.

Stalls from organisations will be set up in the afternoon. They will include representation from the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, the RSPCA, the RSPB and the Prince of Wales Theatre, in Cannock.

The You Crafty Thing group, which meets at the museum, will also be making gift bags and Christmas decorations.

In addition to them, The Grown Up Great group will also be providing art activities between noon and 4pm.

The museum's exhibition Everybody's Darling – the First World War Nurse, which opened in October, will also be open over the weekend.

The exhibition will run until December 16.

Admission is free for both events and they will be held at the museum on Valley Road in Hednesford.

For more information call the museum on 01543 877666.