Last night, Abingdon County Hall Museum opened its doors from 5pm-9pm for an evening of free entertainment for all.
Performers included:
- Oxford Horns,
- Opera Anywhere
- Ian Miles and The Mulberry Band
+ Raw Diva, a talented all female dance group from Oxford.
Raw Diva were raising money for Blue Skye Thinking, a local charity which supports research so that all children diagnosed with brain tumours will have a better chance of survival. It is also one of the charities of Helen Pighills, the new Abingdon Mayor. The other is the Breakaway Club.
The museum opening was an opportunity to experience the museum in a new light
and to watch the setting sun from the museum roof.
It was an absolutely marvelous evening. The performers were all wonderful and the weather perfect. Great atmosphere on the roof and sparkling performances in the Gallery and out in the Arcade.
Great coffee and snacks served by the lovely Volunteers in the basement cafe.
Thank you to all of the Museum staff and Volunteers and Performers for all of their hard work.
Pity more people did not come along to support the event, they missed a treat.
I would have come if I’d known about it. Where was it advertised?
I did see the dance group by accident. It was a real shame there was no promotion of the event. A poster in the punch bowl window would have been a start, after all it is on their door step.The staff at the punch bowl was as surprised as everyone else it was going on!
Likewise, I would’ve come if I had known about it.
Was probably on the town website Kelly – just had a quick look and there are 11 events advertised for saturday so check it out – i may be tempted by the foraging event
Kelly – yes it was on the town website -.also posters in all the usual places around town.
If you are on Twitter, look out for WhatsOnAbingdon which gives alerts for the main events advertised on the website and retweets those advertised by others.
Finally, the new edition of Town Crier, out later this month, will have the main events in June-September.
PS some fantastic Artweeks exhibitions coming up in the next week or so…
The Museum also has lots of interesting events coming up. They are listed and described in a specific programme. You can pick one up in the basement cafe or in the Museum itself.
Sadly it was the same might as Mayor-making in the Guildhall. How did a clash like that happen
I saw posters about it beforehand but only really realised it was happening when I walked past on the way to the Mayor Making. So made sure I visited both. Museum staff seemed a little disappointed they had not attracted more people.
I would have if it hadn’t been for mayor- making
The museum ought to send out an email to all their contacts who could pass it on to others. I didn’t know about it as I live just outside Abingdon and don’t always read the Town Crier but they do have my contact email address. People don’t always see posters in their rush to get their shopping done.
Does the museum have it’s own notice board? Be nice to see one advertising exhibitions and what’s on maybe? Not much good just being on the website site for those poor folk who don’t use the internet.
The museum is a town council service so its events (including this one) already appear on the various town council notice boards which are dotted around town.
Houdini – as well as promoting the website and other online information, Choose Abingdon also used to produce the What’s On Leaflet 3 times a year and have regular centre page spreads in Round & About. The Town Council also used to maintain at least 5 notice boards around the town. With the disappearance of ChAP and the cutbacks in TC staff, much of this has disappeared – or shrunk dramatically. It will be interesting to see what the new TC Communications Committee decide to do.
Having said all of that – we get what we pay for: all hard-copy communications cost money not just to produce, but in manpower to distribute – and all the above came out of our rates.
As of last Wednesday I am on the museum committee so will suggest good idea about building up an email data base of museum events fans. It works for theatres and concert venues.
…what’s happened to ChAPs?
The County a Council,and District Councli withdrew their share of the funding.
Thanks Angela. Do you know where that leaves things live the BID, the community shop, communal gazebos…and other things they drove?
I would imagine they will be picked up by the Town Council’s newly created Community Services committee. Not sure about the BID though. I’ve been given a place on the CS committee so no doubt will know more shortly.
I heard about this from an @AbSwimClub tweet. They picked this event up on Twitter and were retweeting. It looked like a great event. Well done everyone and Abingdon Museum.
Daniel – re the ChAP activities you mention:
– BID preparation is now being done by a group of businesses, using the funding secured by ChAP (which will remain legally in existence until its obligations there are complete). Communications have gone to businesses.
– Community Shop is being run by Friends of Abingdon (who have been the legal licence-holder all along)
– gazebo scheme now run by the Chamber of Commerce
As Angela says, the Town promotional activities – supporting events, marketing, publicity, communications etc will be done by the Town Council.
Thanks for the clarification Hester. All groups will need to ensure their are good links between us to avoid the public getting confused, but as long as the Town Council gets its part right it should all work ok.