I haven’t been to the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre since I was 11. It’s a museum that I loved as a small child, and have always encouraged others to visit and yet – for some unknown reason – I just haven’t been. I say that, but I have been to the cafe and a fair few of the exhibitions, multiple times with my Mum.
But it got me thinking about how people very rarely visit the “tourist attractions” of our own towns outside of school trips. Parisians don’t visit the Eiffel Tower, New Yorkers don’t visit the Empire State Building and Grimbarian’s don’t visit Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre. Why? We just don’t prioritise it, so this year I made it my goal to make sure I dragged my other half there and I wanted to share a few thoughts to encourage you to either by a tourist in your own town, or if you actually are a tourist then WELCOME, please visit our museum!
We spent around an hour going round the Museum. Admittedly, we didn’t read absolutely everything – in all honesty, how many of us ever really do – but we did read a lot of the information, especially the stuff that I know I wouldn’t have absorbed when I was 11.
You can pay a little extra for a tour of the Ross Tiger as well. We chose not to, as we were on our lunch break, however, one day I would definitely like to have a look, because I’m pretty sure I’ve never been on it.
It is quite a small museum, and I do think it could easily be expanded if they had the space. But for kids, I think it’s absolutely perfect. I mean, I know I loved going as a kid.
The Heritage Centre has tried its best to be accessible for wheelchair, pushchair and low mobility users but I think you can tell that it was created during an era when accessibility wasn’t as big of a deal as it – quite rightly is now.
We followed a family with a pushchair into the museum, and we bumped into them several times because they were having to go back on themselves for the accessible route, and I’m pretty sure that it meant they were missing stuff.
The Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre generally alway has an exhibition on that typically focuses on Grimsby and our history. When we visited, the focus was Grim and his lovely revived statue featured prominently in the museum foyer.
However, I’ve been to a wide variety of exhibitions including The Cod Wars, and one focusing on the relationship between Art and Anxiety organised by the amazingly talented and super lovely Sarah of The House With The Blue Door (Sarah’s work featured heavily in the Grim exhibition too, and you can purchase her work in the museum shop).
I think it is incredibly important that we all continue to support this amazing little museum. It might be small, it might feel a little dated in places, but it represents a part of our history that an increasing amount of us no longer recognise.
For more information about Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre, and to find out what exhibitions they currently have on (or what’s coming up). please check out the official Heritage Centre website.
Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre Gallery
