Catalyst Museum

06/10/2026

Interesting to see the rules of the Official Secrets Acts that Widnes Laboratory Staff would have had to adhered to in the 1950s. In this case Norman Holden was the permit holder.

04/10/2026

Widnes's answer to Rosie the Riveter! We're hoping to include Rose Lomax in our new gallery - watch this space.

03/10/2026

An answer doesn’t always close a mystery. Sometimes it widens the horizon.

Our sixth story in Culture 26: Made in Halton, Forged in Adventure took us to Meridian Spire, inspired by Catalyst Science Discovery Centre .

The Spire was already badly damaged when our adventurers arrived. Their journey upwards meant finding routes through collapsed floors and discovering what years of experimentation had left behind.

Strange materials. Unfinished inventions. Experiment-born creatures formed from elemental energy and reinforced reaction glass.

The higher they climbed, the stranger—and more wonderful—it became.

At the High Observatory, they found Dr Quist. He had already discovered what they were seeking: The Widening Horizon had answered him. When he chose to hand it over, it answered again.

Then Iven Rusk, the Custodian of Limits, acted.

Hidden within the Spire was the Nullifying Engine: a failsafe that threatened to shut down everything they had encountered—all that invention, experimentation and possibility.

At the heart of this chapter was Wonder. Discovery doesn’t make the world smaller by giving us an answer. Sometimes it reveals just how much more there is still to discover.

Thank you to our players for bringing Meridian Spire to life, and to Catalyst for providing the setting for this sixth story.

Sanctuary. Change. Connection. Welcome. Perspective. Wonder.

Six stories from across Halton. Next, they come together in our live finale at The Brindley Theatre —and the audience becomes part of the story too.

Part of Culture 26: Made in Halton, supported through the Culture 26 Aspire programme.

Photo Credit: Kayleigh Sherer

03/10/2026

The variety of photos that turn up in the archive - love this. No need to explain it :)

(There is an explanation - Electric Cable pvc Cereclor coated after test loads - Green exudation of nine samples 9 Oct 1968)

22/09/2026

A most wonderful weekend at our Heritage Open Days. It’s been tradition for the last two years to celebrate the vast heritage of ICI during this event. In this centenary year of its creation we had a huge turnout of visitors making enquiries, identifying photographs - many seeing images of their family members that they never knew existed.

Several visitors brought items to show us which is always a wonderful thing. People who are proud of their family members and want to share their stories, often then going away with more than they came with!

Many brought items to donate and I draw your attention to this single sheet folded newspaper - the Mond Mail from Sep 1964. These newspapers were often weekly and once read would have been used to light the fire in the grate. The company didn’t start saving them until October of that year so we now have a grand total of 2! Thank you to Ms Kolaski who took 3 buses to get to us and left this much desired edition.

We’ll do it all again next year!

19/09/2026

It's today - FREE ENTRY 10-4!

17/09/2026

Park up at Catalyst at 10 and spend an hour inspecting our collection FREE ENTRY THIS WEEKEND as part of Heritage Open Days :)

🚌 Culture Coach Trip - Saturday 19th September 11am and 2pm

Halton Borough Council, in partnership with Cultivate Halton, if offering 30 free tickets for each of the two tours around Halton, visiting some of the cultural and historic highlights within the borough. Celebrating Heritage Open Days, Antony’s Travel will set off from Catalyst Science Museum at 11am, giving you time to visit the discovery centre and museum for free before jumping aboard.

The second trip will go from Halton Castle from 2pm, where you can spend some time at Sir John Chesshyre Library and St Mary’s Church as well as our wonderful Halton Castle.

With stop off points such as The Future Flower sculpture and Daresbury Linear Park and Daresbury Village, you can enjoy the sights from the comfort of the coach or step off and take photos of the day with the guidance of Hazlehurst Camera Collective Snap and Social!

At Halton Castle we will be entertained by actors from A Place For Us, with short speeches from their favourite Shakespeare plays and also from the historical Richard II who has a direct link to Halton Castle, John of Gaunt being the 14th Baron of Halton and his son Henry Bolinbroke who deposed Richard and became Henry IV, the 15th Baron!

You can also attend Hummingbird Art Studios on Main Street in Halton Village, to see the Cultivate  Halton Culture 26, Aspire Grant funded heritage mosaic and have a go at a paper mosaic activity 12-2pm.

Find out more about Heritage Open Days in the area at heritageopendays.org.uk.

17/09/2026

Heritage Open Days Sat 19 and Sun 20 this week 10-4 FREE ENTRY Come and see our extracts from our collection.

28/07/2026

Two lovely colour views of the Silver Jubilee bridge under construction showing the Widnes and Runcorn side

05/07/2026

Our archives are very much about the 'hidden gems' and never more so than a blandly described report, thus 'Safety Belts Method of Procedure' which throws up some fantastic photos. Granted their purpose was never meant to entertain me on a Sunday afternoon when I'm trying to catch up but I blame volunteer Sandra who had typed into the file name 'interesting photos' - Lovely stuff!