Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Royal Mint New Coin Design Unveiling - Tower of London

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

I was lucky enough to have an invite to this on Wednesday evening. It was an event put on by the Royal Mint to unveil and celebrate the new design for the reverse of all the UK coins. It has been 40 years since the coins had last had a makeover so it was quite a big deal.

It had been quite a big news story throughout the day with articles being published on all the major news websites such as The Independent and BBC News.

The event was held at the Tower of London. A great venue as it is steeped in history, and the original home to the Royal Mint. When we arrived we were given a guided tour by one of the yeoman, who especially loved telling of all the executions that had taken place, and all the headless bodies that are buried around.

The event was drinks and nibbles and was attended by quite a range of people. Lots of senior Mint officials, a few prestigious artists, coin collectors and heads of museums etc. John Snow from Channel 4 news was even there!

There were some speeches from various Mint people and the young artist, Matthew Dent and the designs were unveiled through a DVD presentation. They show the Queen’s coat of arms divided amongst all the coins 1p to 50p and then coming together on the £1 coin. They look great and got a good reception.

New Coin Design

Afterwards we were allowed to watch the Ceremony of the Keys, which is the process of locking the gates and takes place every night at 10pm, and has done (i think) since the 14th century. Really interesting!

The best thing about the night was that I got to keep a presentation set of the new coins! They look fantastic! I just hope I dont spend them.

Royal Mint website info: www.royalmint.com/newdesigns/designsRevealed.aspx

Silent Disco at the Tate Modern

Friday, October 12th, 2007

Horray! Today I took part in a silent disco flash mob at the Tate Modern. [A silent disco is like a disco but people listen to their own music through headphones. A flash mob is a secret event where people quickly come together in a public place and do something funny to the general surprise or confusion of the public].

It was great! I met with some friends before hand then we assembled in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern, right where The Crack was being displayed. You could see there were more excitable people than normal, many with Ipods at the ready. Then at 7pm sharp a cheer went up and everyone started to dance.

Silent Disco CrowdSilent Disco 2

It was a good atmosphere, everyone giggling and dancing around. Every now and then a huge cheer spread across the crowd. I found the strangest bit was when the song on my music player would end, so I would stop dancing and expect everyone else to do the same but of course they all carried on.

Silent Disco 3

There were loads of people watching who had just been enjoying the gallery and they seemed to be enjoying the spectacle which was great. I’m definitely going to keep my ear to the group about future ones.