The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's museum has decided to offer guided tours of its displays to the public on a regular basis following the success of its participation in the London-wide "String of Pearls" millennium festival. The tours during the festival have proved so popular that the museum is in future to offer a tour on the last Thursday of every month at 2.30pm, with no need to book in advance.
The "String of Pearls" festival is a celebration of "the nation's treasures along the Thames" from Kew to Greenwich. As its contribution, the museum has run tours every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon throughout May, June and July. The tours received additional publicity in May through National Museums Month and Adult Learners Week, and it was expected that interest might diminish in the following two months when publicity reduced to a modest level. However, the tours have continued to attract visitors, with an average tour size of about 30.
In addition, 180 people visited the Society for an evening lecture by the medical and social historian Professor Roy Porter on May 17 and a similar number took advantage of a special Saturday afternoon opening on June 3.
Commenting on the success of the tours, the museum's curator, Miss Caroline Reed, said that the experience had shown that the museum's historical subject matter had broad popular appeal. In addition, it had shown that the museum was capable of building bridges to an audience who took a genuine interest in the wider work of the Society.
Many visitors had been keen to learn about the Society's current work and about issues in modem pharmacy, as well as its history. While enthusiastic about the museum collections and demonstrations, visitors had also greatly appreciated the feeling that they were entering the Society's space and seeing something of what it was about. They had described this as a richer experience than visiting a "black box" museum gallery.