Touch Tours for the Blind and Partially Sighted

 

Touch Tours take place on the 2nd Thursday of each month, usually from 11am - 12noon at various venues across the Oxford University Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM).

 

The tours are free but booking is essential.

 

Whether you are visiting for the first time or a regular visitor, and you can be sure of a warm welcome.

 

Below are the sessions we have coming up for 2023:

 

How to book

To book onto a Touch Tour or for further information, please contact us at outreach@glam.ox.ac.uk / 01865 616998

Or you can call, text or WhatsApp Susan on 07595 612735.

 

 

Thursday 9th February, 11am - 12 noon: **Change of Venue!** Mystery Objects at the Museum of Natural History.

 

A painting showing the back of woman dressed in a loose pink shirt as she ties back her long auburn hair.

Thursday 23rd February, 11am - 12 noon: Rebellious Bodies at the  Ashmolean Museum 

Explore objects and paintings through the lens of disability, neurodiversity and chronic illness on this tour. 

*This is an additional offer to our normal programme.

A large spider crab is displayed in the centre of a circle with other arthropods displayed in rings around it.

Thursday 9th March, 11am - 12 noon: A Fresh Look at Nature - Redisplaying the Museum at the Museum of Natural History

From a gigantic Japanese spider crab to meteorites as old as the solar system, Exhibitions Officer Scott Billings will take us through the new exhibits which reveal the history of planet Earth and evolution of Life, as we know it.

 

A zoomed-in satellite image of an area of earth, with waves of bright and dark blues and a green island shape to the left hand side.

Thursday 20th April, 11am - 12 noon: Connected Planet at the Museum of Natural History

Earth and life exist in delicate balance. Explore the oceans, land, and air around us to witness this dynamic connection and see what happens when the balance tips.

hsm1

Thursday 11th May, 11am - 12 noon: Topic TBC at the History of Science Museum

 

Close up of a rhododendron bush with white flowers and green leaves, with butterflies and other insects buzzing around.

Thursday 8th June, 11am - 12 noon: Summer Stroll at the Harcourt Arboretum

Join us for a gentle sensory walk around our collection of rare and endangered trees from around the world. 

The interior of the knave of a church.

Thursday 15th June, 11am - 12 noon: Medieval Murals at St. Mary's Church, Chalgrove

We’ve been working with St Mary’s Church to create some audio descriptions and tactile images of their historic medieval paintings.  Join us for a tour of these amazing murals

*This is an additional offer to our normal programme.

A deep blue background featuring the outline of a maze to the left hand size and the close up image of a carved horses head on the right.

Thursday 13th July, 11am - 12 noon: Labyrinth - Knossos Myth and Reality at the Ashmolean Museum 

Discover the palace of Knossos, and the search for the labyrinth, in this major exhibition featuring over 100 objects which have never left Crete and Greece before, alongside discoveries from the Ashmolean's Sir Arthur Evans Archive.

 

 

The ground floor of the Pitt Rivers Museum from the entrance

Thursday 10th August, 11am - 12 noon: Topic TBC at the Pitt Rivers Museum 

 

A close up of a curved bookshelf.

Thursday 14th September, 11am - 12 noon: Gifts and Books at the Weston Library

Curator Nicholas Price will be taking us around this new exhibition.

A knitted scientist doll and a knitted Covid particle.

Thursday 12th October, 11am - 12 noon: Collecting Covid at the History of Science Museum 

Explore what life a scientist was like during the pandemic.

The Water Lilly glasshouse featuring a large pond covered in large green water leaves beneath a glass ceiling.

Thursday 9th November, 11am - 12 noon: Glorious Glasshouses at the Botanic Garden 

Come and travel the globe as we pass from tropical jungle and oozing swamp to desert and alpine environments in our tour of the Botanic Garden’s historic glasshouses.

The ground floor of the Pitt Rivers Museum from the entrance

Thursday 14th December, 11am - 12 noon: Topic TBC at the Pitt Rivers Museum