Pete and the Preservative Party

by Pete Lyons with Peter Archer

I’m Pete and I joined the Preservative Party in 2014 because I like museums, particularly some of the exhibitions in the Leeds City Museum, such as ‘The Leeds Story’. Another reason I joined was because I never really liked history in school so this was a fun and practical way to learn some more information.

The Preservative Party is a group of young people aged 14-24 years old who work alongside Leeds Museums and Galleries. Our most recent project was co-curating a new First World War exhibition called ‘In Their Footsteps’, and helping to organise the big opening night. I really enjoyed painting the gallery ready for the exhibition, which was a great success. (Aside from Peter A: I enjoyed doing the exhibition. But I didn’t enjoy the painting as much!!)

Image: Winning Award Credit

The opening night of the exhibition had some last minute hiccups that we had to deal with and overcome. I was doing a reading and my speech changed about three times but I managed to carry on! Later, in the Gallery, I dressed up as a First World War soldier for Look North who were doing some filming, and I appeared on the TV! Being up amongst it really gets your adrenalin going which made the night really fun.

*’In Their Footsteps’ will be on display at Leeds City Museum until 8 January 2017. Entry is free – find out more: http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/Pages/In-their-Footsteps.aspx