With it being bonfire night last night we'd decided to head up to Beamish Museum for the Bonfire and Fireworks extravaganza they were planning. Beamish is very local to us so it made sense instead of trotting through to Gateshead or further afield, plus at £4 each it wasn't breaking the bank!
Now I absolutely love Beamish Museum, I love the attractions, the atmosphere, everything and thought that this would be a great event as that is something Beamish are very good at! I was expecting food stalls, mulled wine, maybe a small beer tent, historic Guy Fawkes celebrations, apple bobbing, bonfire (treacle) toffee etc all of which Beamish have very good access to the means to do so! Unfortunately for what ever reason they didn't do any of it - which I think is a massive opportunity missed by them, as a charity they could have used this opportunity to bring in some extra money!
The evening started with a longish walk from the entrance to the exhibition field, the walk was absolutely fine however it would have been a great opportunity for them to sell sweets, drinks etc as people walked past - the small shack shop was open but as that's right as you get in I didn't even look as I thought there'd be more inside! At the exhibition ground there was an impressive bonfire up on the hill which I'm presuming was put there for Health & Safety reasons but on the field itself were only a display from the fire service, a really irritating police van who's siren kept being set off by children having a look round it and then the usual gallopers in the distance. Refreshments wise there appeared to be two small stalls selling what I think was tea and coffee but as the queue was enormous we didn't even contemplate having a look.
Once we worked out which direction the fireworks were coming from we were presented with a fantastic firework display which I'm pleased to say wasn't set to some rubbish dance, techno music or Jeam Michel Jarre!! Once it finished as there was nothing to keep people there everybody left en masse which is fine until you try and get so many thousand people through a small style with what can only be described as 'arseholes' bypassing the queue and cutting in! We must have been stuck there for easy 15 minutes! After that the stroll back to the car was fine!
Overall I can't help thinking that the event was arranged quite quickly as the usual Police display was cancelled - I'm really hoping it happens again next year but this time it has a Beamish feel about it! If I was marking it like teachers do I'd have to give the comment "must try harder".
Now I absolutely love Beamish Museum, I love the attractions, the atmosphere, everything and thought that this would be a great event as that is something Beamish are very good at! I was expecting food stalls, mulled wine, maybe a small beer tent, historic Guy Fawkes celebrations, apple bobbing, bonfire (treacle) toffee etc all of which Beamish have very good access to the means to do so! Unfortunately for what ever reason they didn't do any of it - which I think is a massive opportunity missed by them, as a charity they could have used this opportunity to bring in some extra money!
The evening started with a longish walk from the entrance to the exhibition field, the walk was absolutely fine however it would have been a great opportunity for them to sell sweets, drinks etc as people walked past - the small shack shop was open but as that's right as you get in I didn't even look as I thought there'd be more inside! At the exhibition ground there was an impressive bonfire up on the hill which I'm presuming was put there for Health & Safety reasons but on the field itself were only a display from the fire service, a really irritating police van who's siren kept being set off by children having a look round it and then the usual gallopers in the distance. Refreshments wise there appeared to be two small stalls selling what I think was tea and coffee but as the queue was enormous we didn't even contemplate having a look.
Once we worked out which direction the fireworks were coming from we were presented with a fantastic firework display which I'm pleased to say wasn't set to some rubbish dance, techno music or Jeam Michel Jarre!! Once it finished as there was nothing to keep people there everybody left en masse which is fine until you try and get so many thousand people through a small style with what can only be described as 'arseholes' bypassing the queue and cutting in! We must have been stuck there for easy 15 minutes! After that the stroll back to the car was fine!
Overall I can't help thinking that the event was arranged quite quickly as the usual Police display was cancelled - I'm really hoping it happens again next year but this time it has a Beamish feel about it! If I was marking it like teachers do I'd have to give the comment "must try harder".
No comments:
Post a Comment