Behind the Scenes: Stores Tour

Thackray Museum of Medicine is opening its stores on Saturday 17 October for a behind-the-scenes tour of its collections. If you've spent any time in the galleries, you'll know that what's on display is only a fraction of what they actually hold. The museum cares for more than 81,000 artefacts — one of the most unique collections in the UK — and at any given time, only about 4% of it is out in the open. This tour takes you into the stores to see the other 96%.

You'll follow the Collections team into the archives to handle rare objects, books and records that almost never leave the shelves. Among the things you might see are a tobacco enema, a handwritten recipe book from the 1600s and a surgical kit from the Napoleonic Wars. It's a chance to get close to the kind of medical oddities and historical records that usually stay tucked away in the back.

The tour runs for about an hour and is recommended for ages 12 and over, so it's a good one to bring a teenager along to. It forms part of the museum's Heritage School Holidays programme, which is why it's running over the half-term break.

There are two sessions to choose from: 11:30-12:30 and 12:00-14:30, so you can pick whichever fits your Saturday best. Tickets are £14.95, and that includes free admission to the museum galleries on the day, so you can spend the rest of your visit working through the displays. You'll find the museum at 141 Beckett Street, Leeds LS9 7LN.