On Saturday 27th November 2010 the team were part of the annual Rotherham Minster Victorian Market held within the Minster itself.
Unfortunately it snowed overnight which one would think would be perfect in creating an ambiance and a reason to attend, resulting in a packed church , unfortunately the Minster was undergoing renovation work which rather restricted access albeit in a small way. but as those who know it the Minster is right in the centre of the towns shopping area which is a good thing but it is also on an elevated position with steep steps to one side and a sloping cobbled roadway to the other side providing its main access from the shopping centre which throughout the day remained covered in ice restricting access to the Minster which was felt by the exhibitors through a lack of visitors.
This was not to say that the town was devoid of shoppers as witnessed by the author who checked the shopping centre it was just that they had difficulty getting up to the Minster, plus there seemed a distinct lack of marketing in the town on the day to inform the public of what was taking place, after all this is an annual event and was supposed to raise the profile of Rotherham and bring in the visitors as well as raising funds for the Minster.
It would be interesting to see how the Lady Mayor who opened the event arrived.
In fairness to Rotherham Corporation they did start spreading grit around the Minster around 3.30pm to aid the stallholders leave early due to lack of visitors, and they did have free car parking.
A wonderful opportunity to turn weather conditions to an advantage was lost.
Sorry Rotherham could have done better.
No comments:
Post a Comment