Free Fun Day

Very disappointing turn out. Danny Kelly and Simon Jordan, some of the players, Ken Loach, a very good local band and yet attendance was poor.
Poor Carol and Bob had put in a hell of a lot of work too.

I'm afraid it was ever thus, Benny. As you say, it's not through lack of effort or publicity...

Does the community want to engage with the football Club? Has there been an increase in local, however u define that, people coming through the gate?

That is a very big question. 

I think in the past the club has not engaged well with the community. I think it will therefore take time. It is important that those involved with the community aspects at the club do not get disheartened.

However I am more concerned about the lack of interest from actual fans. One of the encouraging thing about 1000bc is that it has reduced the average age of attendees. At some matches during the deadly duo's tenure it was like an old man's preserve. 

It is vital that we encourage the younger generation to become enthused about the club. The work the foundation has done in schools is massively important and it is a disgrace that it was distanced by the club. Healing has taken place and hopefully the re-engagement will bear fruit. In time.

In the meantime us fans need to make more effort.

Luton Roman wrote:Does the community want to engage with the football Club? Has there been an increase in local, however u define that, people coming through the gate?

Attendances certainly seem to be up this year - for whatever reason.

Though as mentioned by Ben E, it takes time to grow a fanbase.

Really sorry to hear this.

I was at the Club on Friday and saw the massive amount of work Carole and the team put in.

Unfortunately I had to return home to Derby on Friday night so couldn't be there.

In the end we stalwarts have to support these events. I'll be there next time.

I think that it is very hard to get people along to things after the season. People just instinctively turn off. Bidfest last year suffered a little bit from this although it was better attended than I expected. Also, you have to be very careful when you are not basing things around a game or, at least, something like a "Meet the manager" event. The Supporters' match was well attended and I am not sure that that was just hard core weekly supporters but it was done through word of mouth.

I think that 1000BC and Carol have done a lot of very good things, the attendances are up, the engagement with the community is excellent as is communications with schools. Sometimes, events work straight away, sometimes they need a bit of time and adjustment to bed in and sometimes you just need to accept that things are non-starters. I know that the organising team will have a debrief and decide accordingly.

I have to say that the idea of meeting Simon bloody Jordan didn't exactly set my pulse racing personally.

Bath spring fayre in parade gardens, the festival all around the centre, and lovely weather. Sadly too much competition for footfall.

There was even the Academy Final which I think a few fans went to.

The timing wasn't ideal, had it been on the eve of the season, amongst the friendlies, there might have been more of a buzz, but the season only ended two weeks ago and I've already been back to TP about four times for various things. I don't blame the club for any of this, I think the increase of attendances, despite two similar seasons, show that they're working exceptionally hard and I'm sure there will be far more successful events in the near future.

There was that Lion King showing recently, did that go well?

One of the things we were told when we bought into the community idea was that it would bring in a load of expertise that wasn't there before. It seems to me that it is still the same people doing all the graft and there is very little evidence of any fresh expertise. Particularly on the marketing front.

To be frank, the promotion for this event was pitiful. And the reason for that was that there were too few people involved in organising it. It didn't help that no firm date appeared to be decided upon until very late. 

The overall impression is that the club couldn't organise a pee up in a brewery. And that is unfair to the people who put in so much hard work, but they appear to be wasting their time.

I disagree with that completely, Ben. The marketing side has been completely revamped and you can see that with posters on the buses, more coverage in the front of the Chronic and on local TV. You may have been misled possibly because 1000BC effectively started before the official takeover so the expertise was already in place before this. No-one is going to do wholesale changes to the personnel of 1000BC when they are doing so well just because of the takeover. At the end of the day, attendances are well up and that is because of Carol and the 1000BC team. The team, though doing well, hasn't had results that would explain the increase in attendances. Also, there is more of a buzz about the place on match-days and more people are attending Charlie's after the match.

One event may have been disappointing but saying that that gives the impression that "the club couldn't organise a pee up in a brewery" is way off target. Especially, as I say, when attendances and the public profile of the club is on the up. Of course, everything isn't perfect - you wouldn't expect after what is still such a short time and steep learning curve - but it is certainly healthier and showing a lot of potential.

Not sure where the idea came from that there was no firm date decided on until very late on either. The date of the event was published in the Bath Festival brochure that came out months ago.

I certainly wouldn't want to denigate any of the good work done by the 1000BC campaign, but this particular event I wasn't aware of until the day before it happened and that was too late to change existing plans. And that is despite being fairly well plugged in to all the usual communication channels, such as the weekly newsletter email and various twitter feeds.

Marc

Your posts seem to be suggesting that the Fun Day was ill conceived.

striped67 wrote:I certainly wouldn't want to denigate any of the good work done by the 1000BC campaign, but this particular event I wasn't aware of until the day before it happened and that was too late to change existing plans. And that is despite being fairly well plugged in to all the usual communication channels, such as the weekly newsletter email and various twitter feeds.

Seems a slightly odd comment - on the one hand striped67 is saying that he wasn't aware of the event until the day before yet in the next breath is acknowledging that it was 'fairly well plugged'. As Yuffie rightly says, it had been publicised in the Bath Festivals brochure and on their website for some time.

I think one of the problems may have been that the majority of the festival events were based in or around the centre of the city so it was going to be difficult to persuade people to go to one based outside. I also think that for some people there is, justifiably or not, a stigma about Twerton which would put them off going. On the other side of the coin I think it might also be the case that some people in Twerton don't think that Bath Festival events are for them

There is also the question of the community involvement and to what extent they are really interested in the club. Someone else in this thread has I think questioned this, and it is apparent from a separate thread that has been set up recently that the involvement appears to be a negative one with local councillors on board to oppose the redevelopment.

LB wrote:

striped67 wrote:I certainly wouldn't want to denigate any of the good work done by the 1000BC campaign, but this particular event I wasn't aware of until the day before it happened and that was too late to change existing plans. And that is despite being fairly well plugged in to all the usual communication channels, such as the weekly newsletter email and various twitter feeds.

Seems a slightly odd comment - on the one hand striped67 is saying that he wasn't aware of the event until the day before yet in the next breath is acknowledging that it was 'fairly well plugged'. As Yuffie rightly says, it had been publicised in the Bath Festivals brochure and on their website for some time.

Ambiguous choice of words maybe, but I was meaning that I am 'plugged in' to the comms channels not that the event was 'plugged'.

BenE wrote:Marc

Your posts seem to be suggesting that the Fun Day was ill conceived.

I wasn't there so can't comment but people are saying that it wasn't well attended and I am commenting on why that might be.

Marc Monitor wrote:

BenE wrote:Marc

Your posts seem to be suggesting that the Fun Day was ill conceived.

I wasn't there

And nor was anyone else. Of Board members or Supporters Society or Supporters Club committee members there were only two representatives.

Well, perhaps that tells it’s own story: perhaps not