New regional partnership supports great value family days out
19 August 2021
“As well as being beneficial to children’s physical and mental wellbeing, visiting our museums and galleries can also be a great value day out thanks to the partnership with Tyne and Wear Metro."
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) and Tyne and Wear Metro are working in partnership to promote great value days out for families this summer.
Tyne and Wear Metro is sponsoring TWAM's ‘Ways to Play’ summer events across its nine museums and galleries.
Ways to Play was developed following the museum service’s concerns around the impact of the lockdowns and Covid-19 restrictions on children’s wellbeing. It wanted to ensure that this summer it provided lots of opportunities for children to play to help them develop all kinds of life skills whilst also keeping them mentally and physically healthy.
Ways to Play is a series of fun activities inspired by different ways of playing for example: invent, imagine, discover, make, design, pretend, draw, decode, create, look and build.
Clare Smith, Learning and Engagement Manager, at TWAM, said:
“As well as being beneficial to children’s physical and mental wellbeing, visiting our museums and galleries can also be a great value day out thanks to the partnership with Tyne and Wear Metro.
"Ways to Play is all about giving children and their families the freedom to play and have fun in our venues, which they have been denied for such a long time due to the pandemic.”
There is free admission for under 16s to all TWAM’s attractions and now up to three children aged 11 and under can travel for free on the Metro and the Shields Ferry with a fare-paying adult. This means that families in Tyne and Wear can enjoy cost-effective days out to venues including the Great North Museum: Hancock, Discovery Museum, Segedunum Roman Fort and South Shields Museum, throughout the summer.
Customer Services Director at Nexus, Huw Lewis, said:
“We’re delighted to announce this this partnership to promote great family days out on Metro.
“It made perfect sense to partner with Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums to promote their Ways to Play events and our new ‘take the kids for free’ offer. The museums and galleries are fantastic family days out and Metro is the convenient, fast and frequent way to get to your favourite attractions and now it’s even more affordable.
“Offering free travel to children aged 11 and under with a fare-paying adult gives families a fantastic opportunity to revisit their favourite places or explore new ones in an extremely affordable way.
“It’s been a difficult year for everyone, and the thought of some freedom and adventure is very appealing. We want to help families make the most of their time together and enjoy some fantastic attractions right on our doorstep for less with Metro.
"Take The Kids For Free is the biggest change we have ever made in our offer to customers, but now is the right time to welcome a new generation to Metro, and make it easy and simple to travel on clean, green public transport.”
Ways to Play events can be found here.
Find out about Tyne and Wear Metro’s take the kids for free summer offer here.
