TWO Northwich museums have scooped a top industry award for the excellence of their learning activities.

The Lion Salt Works Museum and Weaver Hall Museum and Workhouse have been recognised by the The Sandford Award, an independently judged, quality assured assessment of education programmes at heritage sites, museums, archives and collections across the British Isles.

The Sandford Award’s committee said the Lion Salt Works Museum provided ‘high quality’ opportunities to learn about the salt industry and its impact on the community, economy and the environment through activities that promote ‘enquiry and discovery’.

It also praised its ‘creative and effective programme of interactive tours and workshops”.

Weaver Hall Museum and Workhouse was praised for providing ‘strong opportunities’ for pupils to engage with the collections.

It said pupils had an ‘immersive experience’, meeting real characters from history through live interpretation that both informs and inspires them.

Cllr Louise Gittins, CWAC cabinet member for communities and wellbeing, said: “Our dedicated learning staff work tremendously hard and imaginatively to inspire a love of history in everyone who visits their museums.

“Using costumed characters, artefacts, educational storylines and fun they inspire the children to participate and engage with history.

“The comments from the Sandford Award show just how well they succeed and I am delighted and very proud of this formal recognition of these outstanding staff.”

Both Museums offer a wide range of workshops and activities that support the national curriculum and are cross-curricular.

At the Lion Salt Works Museum, this includes a history detective workshop, where children have to solve the mystery of a missing salt worker and a geography session where children are enrolled into a spy academy.

Weaver Hall Museum offers sessions on the Vikings, Great Fire of London, a Workhouse experience and a local town trail exploring the history of Northwich.

Both museums were made Children’s University Learning Destinations in January 2017.