Glenside Hospital Museum - Exclusive access to 'History in Your Hands' collection
Exclusive access to 'History in Your Hands' collection
Glenside Hospital Museum
7 March
Offer details
Have you ever wondered what it might be like to wear a straitjacket?
On Saturday 7th March 2026 for National Lottery Open Week, Glenside Hospital Museum is opening its doors for a unique experience.
With any National Lottery ticket or scratchcard you’ll gain exclusive access to 'History in Your Hands': a rare, hands-on encounter with original objects from our remarkable mental health care collection. We do not usually offer this experience to individual visitors so is an exciting look into the past, where you can explore a variety of artefacts that reveal how patients were treated at Bristol Lunatic Asylum (later Glenside Hospital) from 1861 to 1994.
A dedicated collection will be ready for physical exploration and comprises a straitjacket, deactivated ECT machine, emotive patient artworks and Victorian medicine bottles among other things. Not to mention the huge collection to explore at the museum, which permanently features a padded cell visitors can walk into.
These objects speak volumes about changing approaches to mental illness, from early institutional care to more compassionate practices.
Mental health history is often distorted by films, myths, and alarming news headlines. This special experience invites you to slow down, look closely, and form your own informed and balanced perspective.
Expect to be surprised. Expect to be intrigued. Expect to learn. And perhaps, in unexpected ways, to be moved.
Join us for a chance to connect with the past like never before.
How to take part
No prior booking is required, and aside from their National Lottery ticket visitors don't need to bring anything to enjoy this experience.
Normal entry applies (suggested £5 donation for an annual pass, Under 18s free).
Glenside Hospital Museum will be taking part in National Lottery Open Week with a special offer of Exclusive access to 'History in Your Hands' collection
This offer will run on 7 March
This experience will run from 10am-4pm
Booking in advance is not required.
No prior booking is required, and aside from their National Lottery ticket visitors don't need to bring anything to enjoy this experience.
Normal entry applies (suggested £5 donation for an annual pass, Under 18s free).
One National Lottery ticket (physical or digital), scratchcard, or Instant Win Game will give access to One National Lottery ticket is ample to cover your whole party's free History in Your Hands experience
All National Lottery games, including National Lottery draw-based games, Instant Win Games, and National Lottery scratchcards, purchased in-store and online / via app, qualify to redeem this offer.
Proof of purchase of a National Lottery game can be either hard copy ticket or digital.
The date of draw / purchase is not relevant.
All offers are subject to availability.
Glenside Hospital Museum has the right to refuse entry in the unlikely event of venue / offer reaching capacity, as well as unforeseen circumstances.
In the event of queries on the day, the organisation's decision is final.
This offer is not exchangeable.
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