vernon - 03 June 2010 11:21 AM
Yes I think there are a number of challenges or opportunities. A number of Societies already participate in the Heritage Open Days. Before the election David Cameron talked about celebrating participation in the ‘Big Society’, civic involvement . In 2012 we have the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
We can either try to compete with these events or try to give them an extra dimension. I feel we should follow the highly successful example of the early Christian church which latched on to pagan festivals.
So, for example, in 2011 we could latch on to Heritage Open days and perhaps add guided walks round bits of our towns which we consider to either be well planned or badly planned or in need of planning
This post makes me repeat my bid for using 24th May—which is far enough away from HODS to not water down that excellent achievement of opening up the built heritage. Tours are a good idea, but not taking people away from the wide range of heritage focussed places in September.
May is a lovely time to encourage people to open their eyes and get out and about, looking critically.
24th May is before the bank holiday weekend, and it could warm us all up to the ‘summer’.
It also has heritage connections (cultural really), and I think the evolving culture of the civic needs to be re-claimed by local citizens. It should NOT be permitted to be high-jkacked by local authorities and business boosterism. It needs to be genuinely locally, organised by local Civic Voice affiliates, perhaps in cooperation with first and second sector organisations.
I have been very said in the past to see the HODS banner snatched by Swindon’s LA, leaving the Swindon Civic Trust out of the loop, with
events scheduled and promoted in print with no reference to or input from the local Civic Trust. Let’s make sure that this is a clear local community event, or it will not be worthwhile. An annual national theme perhaps, but not really necessary. Better to have national Civic Voice badge and promote a date (24th May!) with the media and other relevant bodies, but leave it to the affiliated CV’s to ‘own’ and shape their day locally.
How would places which already have something along this line feel about a single date? What advantages are their to the dates they have been using
—weather, absence of conflicting promotions????