Tension mounted towards the end of the season when it seemed possible that visitor numbers would exceed 5000 for the first time in many years. Helped by several group visits we did indeed achieve a magnificent 5151 visitors, 552, or 12%, more than last season.
Undoubtedly the publicity from our winter refurbishment helped, with a further publicity boost in July with the presentation of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, and of course, in these difficult financial times, admission to the Museum and all our children’s activities remained free.
We welcomed visitors from all over Cornwall, from all parts of the United Kingdom, and from 21 different overseas countries including Latvia, Denmark, Japan and Singapore.
From the signatures in our Visitors’ Book the most overseas visitors came from Australia (50) with Germany in second place (28), the USA third (23) and New Zealand fourth (15). Of our American visitors most (6) came from California. Many who came from Australia and the USA were seeking information on their St Agnes ancestors and found our Family History section invaluable.
There were as always some lovely comments in our Visitors’ Book:
Lovely collections and staff
Light and bright, and clear displays
Very helpful
Good to find out who Passmore Edwards was
Wonderful to see the outcome of all the efforts
Very educational
Records were a big help
Muy interesante (our one visitor from Spain)
A little gem of a museum
Fun for the kids
Thoughtfully laid out for families
Two stewards, Jean Bunt and Pat McWalter, had the distinction of welcoming the most visitors in one session (80+) on a day when we had more than 100 in total.
The season closed with a “Coffee Extravaganza” at the Museum to thank all the stewards for their hard work.
