Successful time at Berwick Food and Beer Festival 2023
Did you notice the Greener Berwick gazebos with information and activities at Berwick Food & Beer Festival 2023?
Our presence was useful as it generated lots of conversations and many new people signed up to be a network member*.
*Just to remind you a ‘network member’ receives the newsletter and gets invited to events, roughly every six weeks, and to become a full member you need to select an Action Group you wish to join and contact info@greenerberwick.org.uk. Details at www.greenerberwick.org.uk. Action Group members get invited to Greener Berwick committee meetings but attendance is optional.
What did we want to achieve from this event?
Reach people – to explain aims and activities of Greener Berwick (GB) and the Action Groups
Recruit people – generally as members, and for areas of interest, e.g. Action Groups
Sign up people to receive the email GB newsletter
Activities
Spinner with Qs
Magnets for listings of importance
Crossword
Quiz
Information
We provided posters and leaflets on GB itself, and its various Action Groups
What went well
We used our own two gazebos
Tables were borrowed from the Maltings
We had sufficient enthusiastic GB members who volunteered to set up, steward and take down
There were more people at the Festival in Saturday than on Sunday (Sunday morning was also women’s world cup football final). We talked with many local people and tourists: Saturday - 139 Sunday - 110 TOTAL - 249
Signed up to member/newsletter: Saturday - 24 Sunday - 9 TOTAL - 33
All people who signed up for membership/newsletter were emailed and encouraged to look at our website etc.
The general Greener Berwick leaflet was most useful.
The spinner game was useful in engaging people, particularly children, then the adults with them. It was useful to have something small to give to people (sweets).
The magnet game was better with adults, and worked better when the magnets were improved.
What we learned for future such events
The pull-ups were not stable in the wind and soon had to be packed away – better for indoors
Difficult to set up gazebos on hard surface – proper stabilisers needed when gazebos not on grass. Gazebos need minor repairs for future use
Without the pull-ups the posters were too small (A2) and too far back in the stall
The posters might have been better at the front and sides of the gazebos, and back-to-back so that people walking either way could read them
We need better marketing prior to events
We need to revisit activities which did not work so well in this setting – crossword and quiz.
Thank you to our volunteers
Thanks to GB volunteers who helped during the Festival: Laura Hawken, Joel Arnstein, Judith Warren, Jane McDermott, Tansy Clift, Sue Richardson, Jo Hart, Liz Wilcox, Martin Laidler and Linda Pepper - with additional thanks to Laura and Joel for all the preparation they undertook prior to the Festival which enabled its success.
