Lilian Bland showcased at Ulster Transport Museum

The Museum of Innovation, a new exhibition at the Co Down museum opened to the public last month.

The exhibition showcases objects that celebrate local pioneers, male, and female, who have pushed the boundaries of engineering and invention to create designs that have had a lasting impact across the world.

One of the most inspiring innovators highlighted is the pioneering aviator Lilian Bland.

From her home in Carnmoney, Bland is understood to be the first woman in the world to design, build and fly an aeroplane in August 1910.

Glengormley Park was renamed the Lilian Bland Community Park in August 2011 to pay tribute to Lilian’s career. She tested her plane the ‘Mayfly’ on the nearby Carnmoney Hill.

Commenting on the exhibition, William Blair, Director of Collections at National Museums NI said: “Ulster Transport Museum is one of the UK and Ireland’s leading transport and industry museums and as such it’s important we continue to develop our collections and how they are shared with the public.

“The Museum of Innovation represents new thinking at Ulster Transport Museum. It focuses on telling the local stories behind some of our transport collections within a wider national and international context and the impact some of these inventions and feats of engineering had globally.

“Telling these stories adds a rich layer of voices, perspectives and personal connections. We hope this approach will allow people to understand Northern Ireland’s global contribution to design and innovation and help them connect with our collections in a way they may not have before.”

Tickets for The Museum of Innovation at Ulster Transport Museum should be booked online in advance. For opening times, to book time slots and for further details, visit www.nmni.com

----

Click here to read Residents slam arc21’s waste information campaign

--

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.
Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.