Bolton Museum and Aquarium Mr Bloom: Here and There

# Hello! My name is Mr Bloom

# And I'd like to come to see you soon

# I'm out on the road, you see

# Here and there so that we

# Can get together and have some fun

# I'll help you out if there's work to be done

# So where is it you like to go?

# Call me up and let me know

# What is it you like to do?

# I'll pop along and do it too

# Cities, towns or countryside

# I can travel far and wide

# I'm all about and everywhere

# I'm here and there

# Here and there

# I'm here and there. #

Hello there, tiddlers! How are you tiddling? Mr Bloom here.

And I like going out and about.

Yeah, I like going here and there, doing lots of fun things

and finding out about new places.

And I've been wondering what do you like to do where you live?

Perhaps you might like to do a spot of horse riding or maybe

-a bit of gardening like me.

-DING-DING!

Someone's got in touch. Hey, shall we see who it is?

-I'm Kirstin.

-I'm Abbey.

-I'm Ethan.

-We love coming to Bolton Museum.

My favourite things are the dinosaurs. They're great.

This room tells us what Bolton was like years and years ago.

My favourite part of the museum is the Egyptian room.

Mr Bloom, we love coming here, we think you will too.

We want to show you around!

Hey, that would be grand. Best be on my way then!

# Whereabouts will I end up next?

# Let's put my route finder to the test

# It could be a beach, a village or a city

# Museum or a school, a garden so pretty

# A church or a station, river or town

# I just can't wait till you show me around

# Tiddlers, I'm on my way

# So, where am I today? #

Now, where are these tiddlers?

Ey up, I think I'll find them in here.

Ah, the Egyptian room.

Hey, Ethan. There you are. It's nice to see you.

-Hello, Mr Bloom.

-What are you looking at here?

-Some Egyptian pots.

Ooh, they look very old to me. What were they used for?

They were used for food and drink and some for storing things.

Ooh, I don't fancy having my breakfast out of those now!

What else is interesting?

-Well, there's a mummified fish.

-A mummified fish?!

-Yes.

-Really?!

-Are you pulling my wellies?

-No!

-No, let's go and find it.

The ancient Egyptians preserved the bodies of people and animals

and they're known as mummies.

They put the mummies in cases and you can tell

what's inside by the shape and picture on the outside.

-This is Carolyn. She knows all about the Egyptians.

-Ah, I see.

-It's nice to meet you, Carolyn.

-Hi.

-And is this the fish you were talking about, Ethan?

-Yes.

It's got a little face on it. Wow, looks like a funny fish to me.

Yeah, this is one of our many animal mummies that we have in the museum.

And it's a mummified Nile perch

and what's really cool about it is that the tail of the fish is here.

Where the face is? Why is that?

The Egyptians, for some reason, wrapped it

and put the head on the wrong end!

Yeah, and how do you know there's a fish in there

and not just a sausage?!

We have X-rays and that's how we can tell it is a Nile perch

-and it's wrapped the wrong way.

-So, you can see inside?

-Yes.

-Let's have a look.

-An X-ray is a photo

that lets you see inside things.

Here's our fish mummy. That's the X-ray of what's inside.

And, look... There is the head on the tail end!

And it's upside down. Yeah, can you see it now?

Wow, fancy that. Well, I didn't believe you, Ethan -

a mummified fish but there it is. This place is great.

I was wondering, do you know where Kirstin and Abbey might be?

-I think they're this way.

-Really? Let's go find them. Thanks, Carolyn.

-You're welcome!

-Bye!

Hey, Kirstin, Abbey. We found you. What are you up to?

-This is Don and he knows all about the fossils.

-Ooh, hello, Don.

-Hiya!

-So, what have we got here?

-This is a fish

and it lived about 160 million years ago in Lyme Regis in Dorset.

This is like a really, really old fish.

-Yeah, even older than your dad!

-No way!

And even older than our mummified fish. Look, tiddlers.

Can you see the fins? Wow. Look at the detail.

I've heard that there's some other fish in this museum,

is that right, Abbey?

Yeah, there are relatives downstairs in the aquarium.

-What, relatives of this old fish?

-Yes.

-How about we go and have a look? Shall we do that?

-Yeah!

-Come on, then. Thanks a lot, Don. Bye-bye.

-Pleasure.

Look at that bit there!

That's the skin!

-So this is the aquarium, is that right?

-Yes.

-So, what have we got here?

-Little fish.

Wow, they are little.

They are teeny tiny fish. And where do these fish live?

-Do they live in the sea?

-They live in streams and rivers.

Right, so that means they are freshwater fish.

-What else have we got down here? Let's see.

-Rainbow fish.

Why do you think they are called rainbow fish?

They've got all different colours on them.

They have all the colours of the rainbow.

This is what happens when people throw rubbish in the rivers.

Yeah, I can see.

Fish can't swim through crisp packets so there isn't any in there.

But there's more in this next tank.

-These guys are pretty fancy, aren't they?

-They're called pencil fish.

They're just like a pencil because they have stripes like a pencil.

And they've got black noses that look like the lead on the end of it.

This tank, it is so shiny I think we can see ourselves in it.

-Like a mirror.

-It is a bit like a mirror.

-A shiny, beautiful mirror.

Hello, Mr Bloom!

Come on, let's keep going.

Some of the tiddlers from the aquarium club are busy

working on something.

Hey, it looks exciting. I wonder what they're up to.

-Hey, hello there, everybody.

-Hello, Mr Bloom!

-Now, who have we got here?

-My name is Ella.

-My name is Adam.

-My name is Eleanor.

-My name is Amy.

-My name is Amy too.

-And this is Paul.

-Thanks, Adam.

-So Ella, what are you up to?

-We are making a picture collage.

-Ah, yes.

I can see a river and lots of trees. Looking good, tiddlers.

Adam, do you like coming to the aquarium?

Yes, because you can find lots of different fish.

That's true, yes. I've seen loads of fish today.

-And Eleanor, have you got a favourite fish?

-Yellow Malawi.

They're very pretty, aren't they?

And what do your yellow fish like to eat? Do they like to eat fish fingers?

-No.

-No, what do they eat?

-Little red worms.

-Little red worms.

I've heard that fish eat all sorts of different things.

-Do you know what other things they like to eat, Amy?

-Fruit.

-Fruit?!

What, like you and me?

And how would you feel if I gave the fish some fruit for their lunch?

Excited!

-Go on, tiddlers, let's see what fruit we can spot.

-Grape!

They're eating grapes.

Red grapes!

Cherry!

He's eating cherries! Wow.

Those big pieces, they have to take little nibbles. Can you see him?

-He's nibbling that cherry. Oh, yeah. What's that?

-DING-DING!

Don't worry. It's my route finder.

And I think, yeah, the route finder wants to show us some more fish.

There are tiny fish. Ooh, loads of them.

And enormous fish who swim really slowly through the water.

There are super fast fish, look at him go!

There are fancy fish too.

Yeah, very pretty. And some which aren't quite so pretty!

And deep down in the sea where it's really dark,

this jellyfish only glows red when a light is shined on it.

Some fish like to travel in really big groups called a shoal.

Ooh, what an awful lot of fish, eh, tiddlers?

And Ethan, I've got a question for you. Do you know

how many different types of fish there are in the world?

Over 32,000. And that's all we know about.

-And did you learn that here in the aquarium?

-Yes.

-Fancy that!

And look, I can see lots of different types of fish

in your picture. Have you almost finished it?

Yeah, we just need this last pebble to stick on.

There we go. I reckon I know what this picture is of.

I think it could be of the Amazon - the Amazon forest with

the river running through there with all the fishes.

I can see some fish food up there, what do you reckon, Paul?

Yeah, that's definitely fish food.

We've got some pineapple, bananas which are going to fall off those

trees when they're ripe if they don't get eaten by birds and monkeys.

And the fish are going to eat them.

And we actually have some Amazonian fish -

some Amazon angelfish, and Brazilian pufferfish.

-So they will be eating the fruit just like we saw earlier.

-Yes.

You've done a smashing job here so why don't you give yourselves

a great big round of applause!

-Well done, kids.

-Yeah.

-Well, tiddlers. I've had a cracking day today. Have you had fun?

-Yes!

I can see why you like coming here.

A great time looking at the fish and the museum

so thank you very much, you three, for inviting me.

It's time I headed off.

Join me again soon when I will be...

-ALL: Here and there!

-You are right. Bye-bye!

-ALL: Bye!

# Where is it you like to go? Call me up and let me know

# What is it you like to do?

# I'll pop along and do it too

# Cities, towns and countryside I can travel far and wide

# I'm all about and everywhere I'm here and there. #