Kirkleatham Museum is the local heritage museum for the borough of Redcar and Cleveland. It is home to a treasure trove of artefacts and exhibitions; all housed in a magnificent 1709 Queen Anne building that began life as Free School for Boys. The museum features a wide range of exhibitions and displays covering local industrial, maritime and social history. Visit the Fabric of the North Exhibition and the Award winning Steel Stories exhibition. Visitors can also enjoy the beautiful grounds found around the museum, with excitement and adventure for children of all ages. Within the museum grounds, a small woodland trail has been created and benefits from hard surfaced pathways, suitable for visitors to enjoy all year round, including those with access difficulties. Building on the success, Kirkleatham will again host the Festival of Thrift. This year the museum education team is working with local artist, Bub Bacon, to produce a co-curated piece of work with a local primary school. Picture a gallery of large vibrant sculptural coastal images created from hundreds of discarded plastic bottle tops, packaging, etc. The images would be in the form of curtains, banners, flags, sails and signposts hung in a suitable outdoor space either displayed on the sides of a building, across or alongside a road/path or archway. Each of the images would have plastic words depicting messages that raise awareness. The images would be created both in workshop sessions and in the artist’s studio by threading bottle tops to make a hanging screen curtain sewing and melding plastic clothing, packaging, bags, etc. to create banners and flags mosaic bottle tops on wooden signposts creating plastic lettering for the awareness messages During the weekend of the Festival of Thrift, the Education Officers along with Bub will work with visitors by adding to the gallery of vibrant sculptural images raising awareness of how discarded plastics in the sea is damaging the ocean life. Threading plastic bottle tops to create curtains, shredded plastic bags and packaging made into jellyfish and other seacreatures, suitable for all ages and abilities. The museum collections will be open to the public throughout the festival and the trolley bus will be available for a visit. Sir James Knott Life boat Museum. The Oakley class lifeboat was Redcar’s last regular offshore lifeboat between 1972 and 1985. Open throughout the Festival.