North East Connected

Eliza Eyes the Prize in Cook Competition

EXOTIC exhibits at one of the region’s best loved museum have a new addition thanks to a school pupil’s vivid imagination.

Schools from across the region were invited to take part in a competition ahead of the launch of a new exhibition at Middlesbrough’s Captain Cook Birthplace Museum.

The popular family attraction re-opens this week following a £500,000 refurbishment programme.

The ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All’ exhibition features a dazzling array of natural history specimens encountered by the scientists on Cook’s 18th Century voyages, many of which were completely alien to them.

To celebrate the new displays, children were invited to imagine that they had discovered a new brand new creature while on their voyages with Captain Cook.

The museum offered outreach sessions to all participating schools, with youngsters looking at the features of different animals before rising to the challenge of designing their own creature.

The Blue Horned Pogo – created by Eliza from Alverton Primary School in Northallerton – was declared the winner by the judges.

Eliza’s creation lives in hedges and is covered in camouflaged scales. It has three eyes and nine spines along its back to protect itself from predators.

A life-sized model of Eliza’s Blue Horned Pogo is on display in the museum outside the new Mess Deck area for all to see.

Museum Learning and Access Officer Jenny Phillips said: “Learning about collecting and recording information got the children really thinking about the problems Captain Cook would have had documenting and evidencing all the amazing new wildlife that they would have come across.

“There were so many amazing entries and choosing a winner was difficult.”

Runners-up

Megan Leck Wolviston Primary

Finley St Augustine’s Primary

Isabelle Lythe Egton Primary

Rose Lonsdale St Paul’s Primary

Liam Burke Captain Cook Primary

Highly commended

George St Joseph’s, Newton Aycliffe

Abi Williams Berwick Hills Primary

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