This trip we visited the Bank of England Museum with my friends Bruce and Melanie, who used to be a banker. It was loads of fun and it was a great experience because none of us had ever lifted or touched a gold brick before.
It was more special because Melanie could explain everything for us which was really useful.

Melanie told us that the Bank of England is a bank for other banks, the government and businesses. It is not for ordinary people to keep their money there. It was started in 1694.

When we got to lift the gold brick we didn’t know how heavy it would be until we picked it up.
The brick was in a thick safety glass cage with a hole so you could put your hand in to touch and lift it up.
It is not light! Gold is a very very dense metal which makes it very heavy. I found it very very heavy.
Personally I thought that it should be a bit smaller so that you could lift it more easily. When I picked it up I dropped it because it was so heavy.

The Bank of England museum also had a fake note from World War 2 which was used by the Germans to make it harder for people to get food in England and the rest of the UK.
But they had made a mistake by making a £50 note when at the time GB only used £5 or £10 notes.
It was harder to get money at the time because all the jobs were shut down because of WW2. This meant that people didn’t earn as much so the government lowered the prices so people could afford what they needed.
The Spy Museum in Washington explains how Nazi Germany created fake notes.
The Germans wanted GB not to notice that they had changed the banknotes. The Nazis wanted to create an economic shock which would be disastrous and they would win the war.

https://www.spymuseum.org/exhibition-experiences/about-the-collection/collection-highlights/operation-bernhard-printing-plate/

This photo explains inflation and how the economy should be kept at 2% if possible. It was hard to do it when I used the exhibit.

Not all money is in notes and coins. Digital money zaps from the bearer of the card to where they have spent their money. This gives the place where they have used their card the money for their business. Digital money is easier for a business as the money will go straight to their account.

Lots of children still use cash nowadays. The Tooth Fairy still uses cash when she visits our house, which is a good thing!

Here is a photo of my own bank note. It’s called the Bank of Formakin because it is where we live. It is £100 note.

Rowan said: “I highly recommend the Bank of England Museum to money-intrigued children. It explains everything in a really fun way for children to understand and you get to pick up a gold brick! I also highly recommend that people take Melanie with them for this visit. But she might be a bit busy!”

Photos: This time mostly mum as I was busy learning.