PARTYGOERS will be able to eat turkey in the shadow of T-Rex and sprouts next to a steamship at the North East’s top museums this Christmas.
Sodexo Prestige Venues & Events, which manages catering and events for Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, is throwing open two of Newcastle’s biggest tourist attractions for event organisers looking for a truly unique festive venue.
Throughout December, Discovery Museum, Blandford Square and Great North Museum: Hancock, Barras Bridge, will be available to hire for everything from private lunches or dinners with work colleagues to large scale parties and functions.
And, instead of offering set party packages, Sodexo is giving planners the chance to create their own, bespoke event to their own budget and requirements.
Discovery, which celebrates Tyneside’s engineering, shipbuilding and entrepreneurial heritage, has a number of function rooms, from the vaulted Great Hall, which can hold up to 350, to the small meeting room, which holds 15 people.
In addition, up to 100 guests can dine – or 200 can enjoy drinks and canapés – in the shadow of the steamship Turbinia, once the fastest ship in the world and the centrepiece of the ground floor exhibition.
Other areas include the Café, the Science Maze, the Classroom and the Story of the Tyne space, which showcases 150 years of shipbuilding, alongside full size boats and stories about how the ecology of the river has changed.
Alternatively, at Great North Museum: Hancock, guests can sip Champagne next to a Great White shark, or alongside the mummies of Egypt, Native Americans and tribes people from long lost corners of the globe.
Events can be held in a number of areas, including the Clore Suite, which can be divided into a series of smaller spaces and has an interlinked patio garden.
The Special Exhibitions Gallery can be also be hired in its 500sqm entirety or partitioned to create smaller, more intimate areas while the Hancock Café, with views over the landscaped front garden, is a charming setting for smaller events.
Meanwhile, the first floor Hancock café, which overlooks the landscaped gardens, can be hired for evening entertainment while the Living Planet gallery houses double height displays of animals including a full size model of an elephant and a Great White shark.
The museum’s state-of-the-art, digital, full cinema planetarium is also available for private hire, allowing guests to take a dramatic journey through space to explore the solar system.
“Few venues can match these museums when it comes to “wow” factor,” said Samantha Doyle, area sales and marketing manager for Sodexo Prestige Venues & Events.
“They are endlessly versatile and, instead of creating set packages, we are basically giving organisers free rein when it comes to planning their event, by offering to tailor the arrangements entirely to suit their requirements.”
For further information about holding events at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums’ venues, call 0844 856 1074 or e-mailevents@twmuseums.co.uk.