Your Executive Committee is working on an idea that will hopefully enhance
the visibility and standing of the Society. It has been suggested that on
busy (tourist) days we could have members (by rota) on the Cornhill offering
advice and guidance to visitors, information about the Society to locals and
directions to all who ask. The idea is not to compete with the Tourist
Information Centre - rather to complement their excellent service. It is
likely we would be directing perhaps half of the enquirers to St Stephen's
Church. David Stainer and his team there can provide most of the answers to
questions that may be beyond the knowledge of our members. Nor would our
service be a history lesson. Again we would direct visitors to the TIC from
where Blue Badge Guides start their excellent and informative guided walks.
Perhaps by way of experiment we might limit our presence to one day per week
during the summer of 2004 (July and August), we would listen to the
questions (and typical answers) and establish what device we need to mark
our presence. In the first instance this could be limited to a sash which
could be easily passed from person to person. Eventually we might need
something more substantial - a sandwich board, banner or stand. Your
suggestions would be useful.
Where a similar service operates elsewhere (for example in Cambridge) the
volunteer distributes maps of the town centre from a pad. Ours could be
sponsored by the businesses that might benefit from the trade which a
mention on the map could bring. At the end of the day both visitors and
locals should know that Ipswich has a Civic Society, that we care about the
town and that we are willing to share our knowledge of it with others (and
maybe we would recruit a few new members).
JOHN NORMAN, Vice-Chairman
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