Welcome
The Alnwick Garden
I t is hard to believe that we are already well into 2017 and we are about to kick off a new season. Before we look forward to the season ahead it’ s always good to reflect on the season past. So many positives can be taken from 2016. The highlight of the year must be the opening of the Drop-in Centre which coincided with our 15 year birthday celebrations. This gave us the opportunity to showcase the tremendous impact The Garden has had on the local community from both a social and economic perspective. We were also very proud to be a finalist at the Living North Awards in the category of Best Large Visitor Attraction.
The Garden enjoyed an extremely busy second half of 2016 with some of the highlights being our character appearance days when Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol delighted thousands of families. The Halloween half term activities were extremely popular with The Garden fast becoming the Halloween destination of the North East. Festive Season visitor numbers more than doubled over last year thanks to the successful Christmas Market, Santa Visits and Skating Rink. This is really encouraging and shows what can be achieved in the future.
The Treehouse experienced a year of transition with many staff changes. I am pleased to say that we have a new and energetic team forming that will be able to take the operation to the next level.
Looking ahead I can tell you that the Team worked tirelessly through January to get The Garden and infrastructure looking as neat as ever ready for the new season.
So what does this new season have in store? Even more than last year! Adventure Golf, Nutkins, Paw Patrol, Hopalot Street Theatre, Peppa Pig, Prince Amir Street Theatre, Busy Lizzie, Gorillas, Veggie Nannies, Squawk Street Theatre and much more. We will be celebrating Easter with a special Easter Trail and of course
our traditional Fairy-tale Trail will be relaunched with new clues in July.
We are introducing some really exciting crafts at the Crafty Cottage that visitors of all ages will find exciting. We have Billionaire Boy outdoor theatre scheduled for the 16th of July which is a must for David Walliams fans.
We recently introduced 40 new species of David Austin Roses in the rose garden. We will be officially launching the swinging benches in the Cherry Orchard at the Cherry Blossom Festival in May. Please keep your eye on our social media feed for Blossom Watch updates! We are in discussions with SAGE Gateshead to bring more musical events to The Garden and we are even looking at all things dark and sinister with a special event involving a forensic pathologist later in the year.
The list goes on and I have only covered those events that will occur up until August. I’ m sure you will be pleased to know that for the third year running we have decided to keep our prices the same. We are instead focusing on giving Friends and visitors greater value for money by increasing the number of events and activities throughout the year.
There is some uncertainty when one looks towards the future particularly around the weakness of the Pound and Brexit but I am confident that the dynamic team we have, supported by our dedicated group of volunteers and Trustees, can continue to have a positive impact on the lives of Friends, day visitors and the beneficiaries of our charitable programmes.
Mark Brassell Director
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