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College Opens Eyes Minds and Doors
College Opens Eyes Minds & Doors
24 August 2005
The College of Optometrists will be ‘Opening Eyes, Minds and Doors’ when it opens to the public on Sunday, September 18th as part of London’s annual Open House weekend. As in previous years this will be a great opportunity for many practitioners to see inside the headquarters of their professional and examining body, including the exhibits of the British Optical Association Museum that feature in various parts of the building. Open on Sunday afternoon between 1pm and 5pm the College is just one of 600 buildings across the capital giving Londoners and visitors to London alike the chance to peer inside; many of them are normally closed to the public.
On Open House Day visitors will be able to see the Council Room with its peculiarly shaped curving wall (to accommodate the old Hungerford Lane, now the access road to Charing Cross railway station). Also on view will be the museum exhibition on Low Vision Aids in The Sutcliffe Room, the paintings of historical spectacle wearers in the Georgian-style Panelled Room and the Print Room which hosts a spectacular wall of floor-to-ceiling prints drawn from the College collections of over 500 antique prints on ophthalmic and optical themes. Even a cherub on one of the picture frames is wearing spectacles.
The College hopes that members of the optical professions, particularly College members and fellows, will be amongst its visitors on the day. Organiser Neil Handley said ‘the event is our great opportunity to engage members of the public with optometry whilst they are enjoying themselves. Last year over 174 people were welcomed through the door and one visitor stayed over three and a half hours.”
For further details contact Neil Handley, Museum Curator at the College on 020 7766 4353 or log on to
www.openhouse.org.uk . A guide to all participating buildings, which includes several other Royal medical colleges and professional health bodies, is now available via this website or from London local libraries.