York Museum Trust

1. York Museums Trust is one of only eight non-national general museum services in the country which has 100 per cent designated collections. This means that all its collections are designated for their national importance.

Star objects which have not been on display for some time are on show in an exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum called Dust off the Dodo - Fabulous Finds that Time Forgot until January 16.

Star exhibits among these very important collections which are among our real crowd-pullers are:

Castle Museum: Kirkgate, the Victorian street named after North Yorkshire doctor and museum founder Dr John Kirk, was built in the 1930s. It used original Victorian shop fronts and artefacts and was the first recreated street to be built in a museum anywhere in the UK Yorkshire Museum: The Middleham Jewel - this beautiful gold jewel dates from the late 15th century and was acquired with £2 1/2 million of donations in the early 1990s after it was discovered by a treasure hunter close to Middleham Castle in North Yorkshire, once home to Richard III. It is engraved on both sides with religious scenes and features a huge sapphire. Yorkshire Museum: The York Helmet - this Anglo Saxon 8th century helmet - one of the greatest treasures of the early medieval world - to was discovered when excavations of the Coppergate area of York took place in the 1908s, leading to the building of the famous Jorvik Centre.

2. York Castle Museum is your chance to relive your childhood memories and to share your memories with your children and grandchildren. Visit the 1950s living room and imagine settling down on the brown settee, watching its black and white TV showing the Coronation in front of the fireplace. Visit the 1940s kitchen, where you would have coped on rationed food and hung your washing on an old-fashioned pull-down airer. For younger visitors, see the revolution of 1980s fitted kitchens. See old toys, 1970s platform shoes, and beautiful wedding dresses from throughout the 20th century.

3. York Art Gallery has re-opened in March 2005 with an exciting new look – clean, modern, bright galleries, showing a mixture of traditional works and contemporary art. There will be a new shop and for the first time, a café, which will spill out onto Exhibition Square in the summer with views across to Bootham Bar and York Minster. The opening exhibitions will include Reflections - pairing national works borrowed from national galleries with paintings from the trust's fantastic designated collections. There will also be a fascinating exhibition of quilts, spanning 250 years, both visually stunning and telling the stories of dozens of hard-working domestic craftswomen.

4. York Museums Trust's newest attraction is York St Mary's - which opened this year as a contemporary art venue showing work by artists including Turner Prize nominated duo Langlands and Bell. Next year promises to be another exciting season for this fabulous venue, which combines the latest in modern art with the charm of a medieval church building, so typical to the city of York. A Light Crescendo runs until October 30.

5. Bring your family along this half term to the Yorkshire Museum and York Castle Museum. The Yorkshire Museum's Hospitium will be holding free art workshops on the theme of the Evolution as part of the national Big Draw event. York Castle Museum will be holding Halloween activities with a spooky theme.

To check details of exhibitions and events, go to www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk