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Dear all,
First, as always thank you for your words of wisdom, contacts and tips, I have learnt a lot and look forward to following them up.
Second, sorry if I inferred that the guides were profiteering from our site, this clearly is not the case. I am aware that they have
invested a huge amount of time in their research. To date they have also really provided the only way by which visitors can realistically access our site.
Most of you have pointed out the positives of working with guides, this has been really helpful and definitely something we want to
pursue, so thanks again, very much appreciated.
A few of you gave me some great tips about cemeteries interpretation, but if anyone else has seen or been part of interesting interpretation
in cemeteries – good and bad, please let me know!
Best wishes
Alice
Alice Mayers
Programme Manager
House of Life Project
Willesden Jewish Cemetery
020 8343 6217
From: List for discussion of issues in museum education in the UK. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Clive Greenwood
Sent: 05 July 2018 18:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Private Guided tours of sites.
Two things spring to mind Alice - firstly the site is open to the public and there are themed tours of London so presumably the guides are offering themes such as "Jewish London"
or "Movie London" (I note Michael Winner is buried there) so it maybe that your site is just part of a bigger tour?
I don't think it will be good publicity for your project if you try to charge guides for coming in, as they may well be self employed and reliant on people paying to go on their
tour for their income, and being asked for a fee to go onto a public site could be difficult for them, and also would not look good with the people booked on the tour.
If you plan to undertake tours yourself, I suppose there is nothing to stop you having a collection at the end or charging a small fee
Perhaps to generate income you could have talks on the famous people buried in the cemetry with refreshments which you could legitmately charge for?
Regards
Clive
From: List for discussion of issues in museum education in the UK. <[log in to unmask]>
on behalf of Richard Ellam <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 05 July 2018 15:46
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Private Guided tours of sites.
HI Alice (and all)
I’m a little concerned about your colleagues attitude towards private tour guides, because the term ‘making a profit out of’ something is usually uttered in a context that strongly
implies that doing this is wrong. Yes, there are plenty of profiteers - people who seek to gain from others misery and misfortune - out there. But for the most part they’re sitting in boardrooms or own strings of slum properties, and not earning a crust giving
guided tours in the rain. Maybe you should encourage your colleagues to think of your private tour guides as being people who are making part of their living from bringing visitors to your site, and as Jacqui Palmer suggests seek to work with them, rather
than trying to stop them. It might also be worth trying to find out if these tour guides can make a proper living wage from their efforts.
If your cemetery attracts guided tours for which people will pay, and this supports people living in your community, even if you don’t pay them, then surely this is a good thing?
Do you actually need the income that you think might be being lost to these private guides in order to survive?
Hope this helps
Richard.
Richard Ellam
L M Interactive
Science Shows and Hands-On Stuff