2011 has been an excellent year for Gloucester Civic Trust at its HQ based in St Michael’s Tower on the Cross in Gloucester.
We’ve signed up many new members, extended heritage learning to so many; and we’ve built up an outstanding team of “Ambassadors of Gloucester” who daily man St Michael’s Tower and promote all things Gloucester.
Our footfall has been off the scale this year as we’ve met and greeted many people – for instance, over the Heritage week our footfall was up by 40% on the previous year.
The volunteers who man St Michael’s Tower, many of whom are tour guides, promote all things Gloucester to everyone who walks through the door. The most satisfying thing is that the majority of our users are Gloucester people, people who want to find out more about their city.
In 2010 we wanted to reach out to local people who perhaps for whatever reason have been unable to explore Gloucester’s vast heritage tales.
Two of our volunteers came up with a novel idea of creating an “Armchair Tour”. Here people can sit back and discover Gloucester from a comfy chair in St Michael’s Tower. This new activity took hundreds of man hours to trial and test. Now it’s been perfected, and it’s a great hit with people who are not so mobile – both young and old. They too can now come and take a “tour” without having to walk anywhere. We were overwhelmed with the take up, and we have bookings already for next year. We make no charge for this “Armchair Tour”. Armchair Tours take place every Thursday morning, but other days can be organised.
Schools and youth groups: Everyone will tell you that it’s hard to engage young people in heritage learning. Our volunteers pondered how we could get more young boys and girls interested in heritage. We began to market our audio trails to schools and other youth groups. As a result, some 342 young people came to St Michael’s Tower over the summer months to do our audio trails. The trails which are fun and involve some high tech equipment were an instant winner. Referrals have flowed in, and it looks as though 2012 is going to be a busy year. We’re now taking bookings from schools and other youth groups for 2012. We charge a small fee of £1.50 per head. The heritage trail is interactive and lasts one hour. Everyone receives a certificate of achievement and we serve refreshments as part of the activity. We take both day time and evening bookings.
Tower for Hire: St Michael’s Tower has played host to many worthy causes looking to promote their own organisations and for meetings. St Michael’s Tower is available for hire at very affordable prices. The Tower has full hospitality facilities, the hire rates include use of all equipment, and it has full disabled facilities/toilet.
Exhibitions: We’ve had a wide variety of exhibitions this year. The Tower’s proved to be an excellent venue for small exhibitions from recycling, art and photographic exhibitions to heritage ones such as the Gloucestershire Regiment.
Our Heritage Art Classes are held twice a month. At a cost of just £2.50 which includes all materials and refreshments, this is excellent value for money. This year we took the classes “on tour” and visited places such as the Folk Museum and Gloucester Docks. We aim to create a diversified arts programme for 2012. Bookings are now being taken. The art classes are funded by the Arts Council of England.
Events: We held many events this year in St Michael’s Tower. Events bring people in to the city and in to St Michael’s Tower. We’re planning a series of new talks and events for next year, and something special in the summer to celebrate 40 years of Gloucester Civic Trust.
Filming: This year we filmed and recorded local veterans from the Battle of the Imjin River. We’re still editing the film which we hope will be ready soon. The film contains many emotional scenes and also funny stories. Most of all for the Civic Trust volunteers who filmed it, they found it inspirational.
Visits: This year we had visits from other civic groups looking at our St Michael’s Tower project as they too want to do similar things. It’s flattering that our Tower project is a beacon for others. Our visitors are always in awe of the work done by our Gloucester Civic Trust volunteers and the time they give.
2012 Project: For next year we’re going to re-instate a bell back in to St Michael’s Tower, and repair the flag pole on top of the Tower. We’re also going to erect an interpretation board outside the building, so when it’s closed people can still discover the fascinating history of the site. The total cost of the project is £18,000. So far we have £8,500 pledged.
A New film on Gloucester: Another idea is to use all the audio trail scripts that we have and put them to film footage thus making a truly unique film on Gloucester. We’re currently talking to a local TV and film unit on how we may move this forward. One thing we’ve learned is that public need changes all the time. We know that we have to use the latest technology to attract and maintain a wider audience.
Volunteers: We have an outstanding team of volunteers within the Civic Trust – we man many buildings across the city keeping them open. Our tour guides continue to conduct walks around the city centre and historic docks offering a first class heritage experience. The city walks start from St Michael’s Tower.
In St Michael’s Tower volunteers are very hands on. We get together for Tower socials; we’re like a family helping each other out when needed in times of personal difficulty. It’s true when they say volunteering is fun and rewarding. In St Michael’s Tower it’s rewarding to receive the many letters complimenting our volunteers – it makes it all worth while.
St Michael’s Tower closed for the winter season at the end of September and re-opens 1st April 2012. In the meantime, the Tower volunteers are working hard behind the scenes on new literature, events and fund raising ideas.
Thank You: We’d like to thank the Ecclesiastical Insurance for all their help and support this year.
Thanks also to the Heritage Lottery Fund for funding the Civic Trust Tower project in the first instance. Without their funding the Tower project would have been a great loss to the city.
2012 Bookings:
To book a place on the Armchair Tour, school/youth bookings for audio trails and Tower hire, please call 01452 526955
For Art Class bookings call our Artist In Residence, Trudi Ochiltree, on 01452 386007
To become a volunteer in St Michael’s Tower from next April, call 01452 330356 or email info@gloucestercivictrust.org
View updates on www.gloucestercivictrust.org
marilyn.champion@gloucestercivictrust.org
