Running Through Belfast's Medical History: Disease, Doctors & Dubious Cures

Explore the city's strange and shocking past, from Victorian anti-vaxxers and deadly linen mills to sewage scandals and medical pioneers. Lace up your trainers and run through the messy, surprising and sometimes gruesome medical history of Belfast. This guided running tour explores how disease, discovery and dubious cures shaped the city and its people. Hear about Victorian anti-vaxxers, tea mania causing 'insanity', sewage-polluted seafood and the terrible toll Belfast's linen mills took on workers' bodies. Discover how epidemics swept through overcrowded streets, how the Belfast Blitz created an enormous health emergency and how pioneering individuals fought to improve lives. Along the route, meet remarkable figures including social reformer Mary Ann McCracken, revolutionary doctor William Drennan and Sir James Murray, inventor of Milk of Magnesia. Part history, part science and part run: no medical knowledge required, just curiosity and trainers!What does your event entail? Let us know the practical elements of your event and what audiences can expect. Is it one talk, participatory demonstrations, set-timed workshops for families throughout the day? Will there be refreshments, multiple sessions or is good footwear required? - give us a flavour of the event!This is a relaxed, guided 1.5-hour running tour through central Belfast, combining gentle exercise with stories from the city's fascinating medical history. Part of the Northern Ireland Science Festival 2027.