Bath's BRLSI to celebrate 200 years of learning with a weekend of family fun

Bath’s Queen Square is being taken over for a family-friendly weekend celebration, jam-packed with free science and crafting activities, live music and performances, exhibits, open-air games and refreshments on 29 and 30 June 2024. 

Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI), founded in 1824, is a place where science, literature and the arts come together to fire up imaginations and showcase amazing collections of treasures from around the world. Now it will overflow outdoors into Queen Square for a fabulous free festival to celebrate its 200th birthday.

“Everyone is invited” said BRLSI General Manager James Hamilton. “We want as many people as possible to join us for our free weekend celebrations and for all to enjoy a host of fun and engaging activities for the child in you, whether you are five or ninety-five.” 

There will be activities in Queen Square itself and in the BRLSI building – 16 Queen Square – on Saturday 29 June from 10am to 8pm and Sunday 30 June from 11am to 4pm.

Highlights of the weekend include: 

• Do you like watching things explode? Then watch our on-stage scientists deliver activities designed to put the pop, bang and fizz into your weekend!
• Brilliant music on a special outdoor stage with Music Workshop (Saturday) and Orchestra of Everything (Sunday), showcasing a range of performances.
• Drop-in science and crafting activities in the Queen Square stretch tent. Help make BRLSI Birthday Bunting: your chance to create your own piece of bunting with ink, stamps and fabric pens.
• Giant outdoor games of Jenga and Connect 4 -  challenge yourself, your friends and your family

Image: Children playing at the BRLSI

That’s just out in the Square! Pop over to the BRLSI building to: 

• The BRLSI Big Build- join a master builder from Bricks McGee and take part in a tower-building challenge for all of the family! Grab a handful of LEGO® bricks and build the tallest tower you can - fun for LEGO® fans  4+.
• Check out the new exhibition, The World Revealed, featuring Jurassic fossils collected by the famous Mary Anning, an ivory figurine from the ruins of Pompeii and relics from the lost Franklin Arctic expedition. See what you can identify in the minute ‘Museum of Wonders’ and take yourself around the exhibits with ‘The World Revealed Spotters Trail’.
• Visit the Makers’ Market, which sees local artisans selling a selection of the best of the West’s locally made goods and produce.
• Meet the super-smart medieval mathematician Adelard who will introduce you to Bath as it was almost a thousand years ago.
• Enjoy a very special ‘show and tell’ for dinosaur-lovers and fossil-hunters in BRLSI’s most iconic room, but don’t forget to look behind you! Is that actually a dinosaur?

Image: The LEGO® Big Build at BRLSI

BRLSI is delighted to be partnering with Forest of Imagination 2024 which is taking place at The Holburne Museum during 26-30 June. A trail across Bath will connect the two events and there will be pop-up Forest of Imagination activities at Queen Square during the weekend.

BRLSI’s Brilliant Discovery Weekend is generously supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and we also thank Charles Stanley Wealth Managers who are sponsors of ‘The World Revealed’ exhibition.  It is one of a series of BRLSI events involving families over the coming months. Other highlights include: 

On 18th and 19th October Bath Taps into Science will offer children the chance to try lots of different taster sessions, encouraging them to dip into the fascinating world of science with two days of exhibits, experiments and exploration. 

Brilliantly Engineered returns in February 2025, once again showcasing the very best of the South West's engineering talent across four days. Expect a whole host of workshops and activities designed to turn children into the world-shapers of the future. 

To find out more about all these events and what more BRLSI has to offer, visit www.brlsi.org/weekend. 

BRLSI are pleased to partner with arts and events Community Interest Company (CIC) Bath Arts Collective to produce and market this fantastic family event.