THE winter solstice inspired a fancy dress party at a North-East museum yesterday.

Clothing Through The Ages was the theme for the celebration on the shortest day of the year - which also proved among the coldest.

Visitors to the Old Fulling Mill Museum of Archaeology, on the peninsula riverbanks in Durham, were invited to go along in period costume of their choice.

Although they may have preferred to wrap up warm, they got into the spirit of the event with an array of different costume designs.

Museum education officer Jim McCaffery, an enlightened Ebenezer Scrooge for the day, oversaw the activity day aimed mainly at children, but also open to accompanying adults.

He took his eager audience through a down-the-centuries clothes slide show, reflecting the changing garb from one era to another.

There was also an Ancient Greek role play event, The Birds by Aristophanes, which Mr McCaffery claimed was the source of the phrase Cloud Cuckoo Land, and a clothes workshop.

Yesterday's event was the latest in a seasonal series of activities at the museum. Other events have included an illustrated talk on life as a Tudor schoolboy, a collection of ghost stories, a display on the geology and history of the River Wear, and a second hand book sale, staged by the Old Fulling Mill's friends.

The museum, along the riverside path from Framwelgate Bridge, is closed for the Christmas/New Year break. It re-opens on Monday, January 5, from 11.30am to 3.30pm.

Published: 23/12/2003