| Good morning, and welcome to the museum - |
| one with a remarkable range of exhibits, which I'm sure you'll enjoy. |
| My name's Greg, and I'll tell you about the various collections as we go around. |
| But before we go, let me just give you a taste of what we have here. |
| Well, for one thing, we have a fine collection of twentieth and twenty-first century paintings, |
| many by very well-known artists. |
| I'm sure you'll recognise several of the paintings. |
| This is the gallery that attracts the largest number of visitors, |
| so it's best to go in early in the day, before the crowds arrive. |
| Then there are the nineteenth century paintings. |
| The museum was opened in the middle of that century, |
| and several of the artists each donated one work - to get the museum started, as it were. |
| So they're of special interest to us - |
| we feel closer to them than to other works. |
| The sculpture gallery has a number of fine exhibits, |
| but I'm afraid it's currently closed for refurbishment. |
| You'll need to come back next year to see it properly, |
| but a number of the sculptures have been moved to other parts of the museum. |
| 'Around the world' is a temporary exhibition - |
| you've probably seen something about it on TV or in the newspapers. |
| It's created a great deal of interest, because it presents objects from every continent and many countries, |
| and provides information about their social context - why they were made, who for, and so on. |
| Then there's the collection of coins. |
| This is what you might call a focused, specialist collection, |
| because all the coins come from this country, |
| and were produced between two thousand and a thousand years ago. |
| And many of them were discovered by ordinary people digging their gardens and donated to the museum! |
| All our porcelain and glass was left to the museum by its founder, when he died in 1878. |
| And in the terms of his will, we're not allowed to add anything to that collection: |
| he believed it was perfect in itself, and we don't see any reason to disagree! |
| OK, that was something about the collections, |
| and now here's some more practical information, in case you need it. |
| Most of the museum facilities are downstairs, in the basement, |
| so you go down the stairs here. |
| When you reach the bottom of the stairs, you'll find yourself in a sitting area, |
| with comfortable chairs and sofas |
| where you can have a rest before continuing your exploration of the museum. |
| We have a very good restaurant, which serves excellent food all day, in a relaxing atmosphere. |
| To reach it, when you get to the bottom of the stairs, go straight ahead to the far side of the sitting area, |
| then turn right into the corridor. |
| You'll see the door of the restaurant facing you. |
| If you just want a snack, or if you'd like to eat somewhere with facilities for children, |
| we also have a café. |
| When you reach the bottom of the stairs, you'll need to go straight ahead, |
| turn right into the corridor, and the café is immediately on the right. |
| And talking about children, there are baby-changing facilities downstairs: |
| cross the sitting area, continue straight ahead along the corridor on the left |
| and you and your baby will find the facilities on the left-hand side. |
| The cloakroom where you should leave coats, umbrellas and any large bags, |
| is on the left hand side of the sitting area. |
| It's through the last door before you come to the corridor. |
| There are toilets on every floor, |
| but in the basement they're the first rooms on the left when you get down there. |
| OK, now if you've got anything to leave in the cloakroom, |
| please do that now, and then we'll start our tour. |