In Abingdon’s finest building, the Abingdon County Hall museum, there was a special Halloween treat from 7-9pm this evening.
Pumpkin Heads were placed on up lights on the pavements outside.
A new museum attendant stood there to frighten unsuspecting visitors.
The Spooky Music Horn group played Harry Potter Scores, and Phantom of the Opera in the sessions gallery.
There were also night time roof views of the town at the first Halloween Opening of the Museum.
Was this publicised widely? I’d have gone…
It was on http://www.abingdon.gov.uk and the Abingdon Museum Twitter feed….
There’s been spooky goings on there for ages ……
I have no real insight to bring to the table, but I note that every time backstreeter posts about an event like this someone says ” I wish I had known about it…..”
It suggests that the avenues of publicity traditionally used by the town council/museum etc do not have the reach they should, and I hope someone is thinking about this.
It’s a shame if potential supporters are missing out on events.
David – a few of us (including the redoubtable Backstreeter) have been trying for some years to help with this – that is where the WhatsOn website, Twitter feed and leaflets started and those have subsequently been taken on by the Town Council. Their staff also look after all the town noticeboards, and Choose Abingdon set up an e-mail newsletter system and centre page adverts in every issue of Round & About. Still that is not enough..but it is really hard to find out what communication routes people want.
Do people want to pay for the TC to employ more staff to put up posters or deliver leaflets? If so, do let your councillors know.
If, as I suspect, the answer is No, perhaps we can all help by making better use of our own networks – electronic or otherwise. There are various Facebook sites around town – some of them already pick up some events from the Town website – if others did the same, word would spread more widely. The same with the WhatsOnAbingdon Twitter – people could follow that and RT; those who run school Parents Association websites could pick up details of family events and pass them on etc etc
Finally, it’s not just Council events – there are two Fireworks Displays in town, one tonight and one next Saturday. Neither was posted to the Whats On site and until a few days ago there were no posters up about either – and a Google search brought up nothing……
Presumably the What’s On site started as a venture by one or more enthusiasts. Once the Council staff were asked to take it on, it became something else to be added to a workload.
Sometimes, volunteers are rather better at these things simply because of their personal investment of time and commitment …