And you thought dinosaurs were scary!

The blockbuster touring exhibition - ‘Carboniferous Monsters 150 Million Years before the Dinosaurs’ - opens this Saturday at Gallery Oldham

Are you struggling for ideas regarding what to do with the children this half term?

Then why not take a trek down to Gallery Oldham and find out what life was like before dinosaurs roamed the earth?

The blockbuster touring exhibition - ‘Carboniferous Monsters 150 Million Years before the Dinosaurs’ - opens this Saturday at Gallery Oldham - its first UK showing.

Step back to the Carboniferous period and visit tropical forests and swamps teeming with bizarre and ferocious ancient monsters, some of which had larger teeth than T-rex.

Meet the dinosaurs’ distant ancestors, the very first reptiles, the largest creepy-crawlies ever to live, and prehistoric animals unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Come face-to-face with scorpions the size of dogs, millipedes the length of crocodiles, and giant meat-eating dragonflies the size of seagulls.

This blockbuster national touring exhibition features stunning 350-million-year-old original fossils, reconstructed giant prehistoric animals, and skeleton casts from museums around the world, many of which have never been displayed in the UK before.

This exhibition shows what Oldham was like 300 million years ago and explores how the remains of prehistoric plants were the source of the carbon which eventually formed coal.

Discover how these ancient forests and swamps are linked to fossil fuels that powered the industrial revolution and which has resulted in the enormous problem of climate change facing the world today.

If you want to get even more hands on there is a gallery talk at 2pm on Wednesday, November 22, where fossils from Gallery Oldham’s collection will be available for handling.

The exhibition runs until Saturday, January 27, 2024 and is suitable for prehistoric monster fans of all ages!

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.