Tag Archives: Open Day

A record Kings Weston Heritage Open Day! 

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Firstly, thank you to everyone who helped make Heritage Open Day happen this year, our volunteers, Kings Weston house, and all the visitors who turned out to make it such a success. This year was a record-breaker, with over 860 visitors through the door on the day, and the most donations we’ve ever taken towards KWAG’s work. It was so popular that people were already queuing outside before doors opened at 10am.

John Barbey captivates an audience in the former parlour. (Courtesy of Bob Pitchford) 

Remarkable was the size of the groups attending the tours hosted by KWAG around the ground floor rooms. There were five held throughout the day, all of which, predictably overran; this is an inevitable consequence of shepherding such larger groups from room to room. We had some heart-warming feedback on these and the day as a whole. 

One of the guided tours sets off from the Saloon.  (Courtesy of Bob Pitchford) 

The weather on the day was horrible, with torrential rain coming across during the afternoon that would have discouraged even the most intrepid from heading up to The Echo and exploring the wider estate. We’re not sure if the weather counted in our favour or against it, but it would have been difficult to manage many more visitors on the day.
 
We hope everyone who came enjoyed the event. If you did, we are still taking donations via our paypal link.

The stair hall gets explained during one of KWAG’s tours. (Courtesy of Bob Pitchford) 

Another Successful heritage open day

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the dining room  with crowds enjoying the day. (Photo, Bob Pitchford) 

This year’s September open day must rank amongst one of the best in recent years. With fine weather and a sense of occasion the day attracted just shy of 600 visitors between opening at 10am and half-four. Five busy tours were hosted by KWAG throughout the day taking visitors through each of the state rooms on the ground floor including the former Drawing Room where our usual exhibition was held. Noticeably, the sun encouraged may people to explore more of the estate, with a constant stream of people seen walking up the path to The Echo and back.

This year the exhibition was augmented by a new display cabinet where we were able to show some of the smaller artefacts we’ve not previously been able to. As with the last couple of years, we were selling the KWAG Christmas cards to help support our work around the estate. Perhaps because of the fine weather or new postal costs these weren’t as popular as previous occasions. However, the day attracted around £500 in cash and digital donations; this will help go towards offsetting the cost of the Big Bulb plant to be held this month.

The Drawing Room, now the Oak Room, hosts KWAG’s exhibition in the middle of a house tour. (Photo Bob Pitchford) 

As usual, huge thanks must go to KWAG volunteers who gifted their time staffing the event, greeting visitors, and manning the exhibition. Our thanks also go the team at Kings Weston house for hosting the event and allowing KWAG to play such a large part in showcasing it.