Half term fun at HMAG

There’s loads happening at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery this October half term.

If you’ve got an eye for an animal, the half term trail is Follow the trail of Tapestry Creatures. This Bayeux Tapestry inspired animal search trail features 11 creatures hidden around the galleries. From colourful birds to fantastic beasts, there’s plenty to discover for explorers of all ages. Pick up a trail sheet, follow the clues, and see if you can spot them all. The trail is live all week during museum opening hours.

On Saturday 24 October, you can enjoy Bayeux Tapestry – The Epic Poem workshop with the UK’s Green Poet, Martin Kiszko. You can become a tapestry detective and unpick the picture and text narrative embroidered into the Bayeux Tapestry, and imagine and write your own interpretations of some unexplained scenes and the missing concluding scenes. Tickets cost £2 and should be booked online. 

Tuesday 27 October sees an Afri-Co-Lab Mini Makes free session where you can make a woven card. The session will be led by Afri-Co-Lab’s Lillian Babirye who will also share the story behind extraordinary African materials. At the end of the session all ages and abilities will have made a woven greeting card to keep or send to someone special. Drop-in between 2 and 3.30pm. 

On Friday 30 October you can get spooky with a drop-in craft workshop. Pop in between 10.30am and 1.30pm to make pumpkin pom poms, slithering snakes and creepy cats.

Alongside the special activities, you can also enjoy the rest of the museum’s current exhibitions, including Threads Through Time: Hastings and The Bayeux Tapestry Story. This exhibition explores the people, events and extraordinary visual storytelling of the Bayeux Tapestry. Five film chapters will be set throughout the museum, with the complete film screened on a cinema-scale screen in the magnificent Durbar Hall (where available). Thanks to WorldQuant and the British Museum for their support. 

Tapestry of Black Britons, a touring exhibition, is also available to discover at the museum. This exhibition, created by Jamaican/Haitian/British artist and cultural producer Paula Ogun Hector, explores the question of what Britain’s history would look like if the stories of its Black and diasporic communities were woven into the national story from the beginning. 

Other exhibitions include Hastings Open 2026 and Bayeux Around Britain: casting a masterpiece. 

Cllr Julia Hilton, deputy leader of the council and lead councillor for shaping place, regeneration and community wealth building, said: “We are so lucky in Hastings to have such an incredible museum with such a wide range of activities and events. These half term activities sound great fun, and a good chance to get to the museum and enjoy the exhibitions that are currently on display. Hastings played such a vital role in the history that the whole country is celebrating so it’s fantastic that we can find out more about it.” 

Find out more about Hastings Museum & Art Gallery on their website.

Hastings Museum & Art Gallery is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.