If you’re looking for something different to do this weekend, look no further thanWorldMuseum.

To tie in with the current exhibitionAgeof the Dinosaurthere is a jam-packed weekend of dinosaur themed events, talksand activities.

On Saturday from 11.30am - 4.30pm the whole family can have their picture taken witha dinosaur! Using green screen technology your picture will be superimposed onto apicture of a fearsome dino! (Prints will be priced at £2 or free on production ofa ticket bought that day for theAgeof the Dinosaur).

And throughout the weekend you can explore dinosaur digestion and find out how thebiggest animals ever to walk on land digested their dinners.

Ever asked yourself who’d win in a fight, a T. rex or a Spinosaurus? With a newgeneration of giant killer dinosaurs being discovered you can weigh up the evidenceand work out which of these super predators would have come out on top in a battleof titans.

You can also listen to experts give talks from 3pm on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’stalk, entitledDigging for Dinosaurs in Hell Creekwill be given by Dr PhilManning from University of Manchester and Sunday’s talk given by Dean Lomax from DoncasterMuseum who will talk aboutExtinct Marine Reptiles.

As you can see, it’ll be dino crazy so why not come along and for a full timetableof what’s happeningclickhere.

Areyou ready for a fun-filled dino weekedn? He is!

This weekend, the Merseyside Maritime Museum and International Slavery Museum arehosting a free weekend of special events on the theme, 'Docklands Extravaganza'. Educationmanager Vikky Evans-Hubbard tells us more about the ‘Jiving Lindy Hoppers’:

The popular dance group The Jiving Lindy Hoppers will be making a return visit toInternational Slavery Museum on Saturday 4th February, as part of ourDocklandsExtravaganzaweekend. They last visited during Black History Month 2009, leavingus all speechless with their daring and acrobatic dance moves and they look set todo the same this year – have a look at them on YouTubeperformingat the JLA Real Variety Show. After watching them in action, there will be theopportunity to learn the basic step yourself in a fun workshop.
 
The Lindy Hop (or Lindy) is a partner dance that originated in 1920s and 30s Harlem,New York. The dance contains footwork borrowed from the Charleston and Tap. It canbe wild and spontaneous, with frenzied kicks and body movements, or it can be cooland sophisticated.

'Lindy' is considered a cultural phenomenon that broke through the race barrier whensegregation was still the norm. Looking back on where the Lindy Hop came from, weencounter American history and a the global cultural change facilitated by the AmericanGIs that travelled in World War II. Modern dancers, interested in cultural historyare piecing together the roots of Lindy through the tales and film footage of theoriginal dancers, now in their 80s and 90s. Although the lineage and history of Lindymay be muddled, it is certain that it was born from the blending of African rhythmsand movements with European structured dance.

Theincredible Jiving Lindy Hoppers - wow!

The influences of the Charleston and Tap dance are evident still in the Lindy we dotoday and the dance is also said to have come from an early version of the Foxtrot.Remnants of older dancers such as the Cakewalk, Texas Tommy, Black Bottom and popular"animal" dances such as the Turkey Trot and the Buzzard Lope are also expressed. It’sinteresting that these came from African social dance culture. Some, such as the Cakewalk,were created when free Blacks and enslaved Africans alike, imitated and mocked theformal dance structure of the Europeans, which they would then use in their entertainmentroutines. Ironically, the white spectators would then copy the entertainers, and asocial dance that bridged the divide emerged.

You cansee(and do) the Lindy Hopat 1pm, 2pm and 3pm at the Merseyside Maritime Museum onSaturday 4 February - just one of the activities we'll be running as part the DocklandsExtravaganza.

The Titanic's band were said to have played the hymn as the ship was sinking. Workingwith local composer Tom Moss, who prepared the arrangement, and three world classmusicians, we aimed to recapture this emotional aspect of the sinking. All the membersof Titanic's band played until the last moments before going down with the ship.

There were local connections to Liverpool within Titanic's band - including John FrederickPreston Clarke, who lived in Wavertree, Liverpool and Wallace Henry Hartley, who previouslyworked on the Cunard liner Mauretania before joining Titanic as band master. The bandwere recruited by the music agents Messrs CW and FN Black, who had offices at 14 CastleStreet, Liverpool.