Fatal Flu - Spanish Flu and the Threat of Pandemic (360G-Wellcome-210553_Z_18_Z)

Working with health professionals, artists and educators Torquay Museum will use information about the Spanish Influenza of 1918-1920 to start a conversation with the public about our understanding of disease, its spread and future threats. This project seeks to offer an accurate pool of knowledge about flu whilst looking at the emotional effects on our lives of ill health and the possibility for positive change. Creative engagement within a museum context will offer people the opportunity to understand that things change by looking back at our own history, our responses to disease, and our ability to develop tools to fight these diseases. The project will include various strands of outreach to engage schools, older people and members of the wider community. This engagement will help to inform the creation of an exhibition which will run during the Flu season of 2018 to mark 100 years since the outbreak of Spanish Flu.