Where is your event to be?

Just like shops selling groceries use their main road position with a lot of “footfall” to “remind” their potentional customers of their existence you want the location of your event to work for you.

A town park or council property

The advantage here is that the location is known locally and many parks are on reasonably level ground. One disadvantage is that it is often difficult to charge for entry. There will be a “public right of way” or caveats in the deeds of ownership that allow free public access within certain times. These may be overcome by a “resolution” of the council, i.e. the political, elected councillors may vote to support your event and suspend the rules. However being political and being elected they can be swayed by opposition to your event by local residents. The property may be unfenced and it may be too costly to provide fencing or intensive security to stop unpaid access. Because the park is used by local residents it is the ideal place to have a pre-event poster.

A field

A farmer's field has few publicity advantages because it is not a well known location or known to have events in it. You are limited to pasture field which have uneven surfaces, rabbit holes and the stumps of rough vegetation underfoot. Farmers are allowed to use their fields a certain number of times a year without planning permission for non-farming activities such as festivals, camping or car boot fairs etc. There may be some concern by the Police about vehicle access as the event become popular and causes congestion on narrow country lanes. They will be cheaper to use than other venues. Roadside posters can be displayed in the hedge of the fields along main roads to gain publicity for the event.

A private castle/stately home

A private Castle has the advantage of being a historic location that is well know locally as a place where events might be held. Advance publicity can be gained by posters and leaflets being offered to visitors and using the edges of the estate on roads for publicity roadside posters well in advance of the event.

English Heritage

They have their own events organising team. They have been known to employ consultants to assist at their large events. They are reducing their Living History events programme to about 10 events per year.

National Trust properties

The NT is moving into the use of Living History interpretation. Each property is more independent in planning its programme than English Heritage.

Private museums

Some have their own grounds that could be used for an event if they were to be a partner.

For any location you should ask yourself is it close to a centre of population or a well patronised holiday area (in the holiday season). Are there good communications to the site? Can the site be used to advertise the event in advance? Most of these organisations are keen to run events to persuade people to make return visits to their site and/or act as an interpretive medium for their building or collection. They may wish to share gate takings. They will certainly hope to increase sales in their shop. They will have their own publicity programme in which your event may feature. They may wish to influence the theme of the event to feature the history of the site and/or its collection of artefacts.