Museum of 1951, Southbank

As part of the Festival of Britain celebrations, the Southbank Centre has converted part of the ground floor of the Royal Festival Hall into the Museum of 1951 which brings together various memorabilia and aretefacts associated with the original 1951 Festival. What I hadn't realised before I visited this was just how much the Festival of Britain really was a national celebration as opposed to something that took part in a small part of London. As well as nine other major events in London there were 'a constellation of events' around the country from book fairs to music concerts and the guides and leaflets from many of these local festivals are on display as are a number of photos of the various different celebrations.

One of the first exhibits you see is the 'Patchwork of the Century' which contains 100 squares depicting an historic event for each of the 100 years up to 1950. This impressive patchwork was made by 80 women with no previous experience of needlework in only two months. As well as major events such as the 1926 general strike and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 it also illustrates the engineering triumphs and social progress of the period so for example the opening of the Forth Road Bridge in 1890 is followed by the introduction of free education in 1891.

The other objects on display include a Meccano model of the Festival Ferris wheel and a selection of some of the many souvenirs made for the festival such as headscarves, ties, playing cards and jigsaw puzzles all bearing the distinctive festival emblem. There is also a brief explanation of the design of that emblem, some information about the architecture and design of the buildings on the Southbank Festival site and a replica of a 1950s living room.

Further insights into what the Festival was like for those attending are available in the film show. I only watched one of the three films on offer - Brief City - which was made by the Observer newspaper and gives a good impression of what the Southbank site was like during the festival with vast numbers of visitors enjoying themselves there. I particularly liked the images of crowds of people dancing elegantly at night on the concrete platforms outside the Royal Festival Hall. It was clearly a typical British summer as most have kept their coats on!

It's not a huge exhibition but it's definitely worth spending half an hour or so there if you're visiting the Southbank for any of the other Festival of Britain activities as it gives some historical context for the current celebrations. It is open until 4 September.