The training shoe has been around for over 100 years but in the last 50 years it has developed into a multibillion dollar global industry. In this exhibition we take a closer look at the design, technology, cultural influences and environmental impact of the trainer and showcase our own trainer collection, the largest owned by a public institution.

Friday 16 September – Friday 21 October 10.15 - 11.45am £4 per child per session and £24 for a series ticket (includes refreshments) Join us for hands-on fun sessions for the under-fives. Explore the museum with stories, music and art and craft activities, whilst making new friends and creating memories in an engaging and family-friendly environment. With a different theme and activities each week. These sessions are for pre-school children (2-5 years) and their parent and carers. Booking essential as places are limited.

Art history lecture series Friday 30 September – Friday 21 October 10.15am - 12.15pm £6 per lecture or £20 for the whole series ticket (includes tea/coffee and biscuits) Enactment, the public display of theatre and makebelieve, have long been part of human social and religious interaction, fostering communal participation and understanding as well as different forms of interpretations and ways of seeing. Join us as we explore four distinctly different phases of public display and storytelling through the art historian’s eye. Our journey starts with the enactments of medieval mystery plays, halts at the Italian Commedia dell’Arte and its importance particularly for the arts of Rococo Europe, reaching its apogee in exploring how William Hogarth and Richard Garrick immortalized the theatre. Our final session will address the use of art in the theatre of war. Please note that this lecture series runs in conjunction with the current exhibition at Abington Park Museum which until December 2022 charts the history of Northampton’s Masque theatre group. Booking essential.

8 September - 15 December 2022 10.30 - 11.30 am £3 per talk, £24 whole series ticket. A series of talks on various subjects with tea/coffee and biscuits. Booking recommended.

Trainer trail Saturday 22 – Sunday 30 October During opening hours £2 Get your trainers on for a themed trail around the museum – find all the iconic trainers hidden around the building and some fun trainer facts to win a prize.