Do you love Bournemouth, are passionate about the major free events in the town and have great customer service skills or perhaps you were a Games Maker during the London 2012 Olympic Games? Then your town needs you...
Bournemouth Tourism has teamed up with Bournemouth University to launch an exciting new Festival Makers scheme, giving people a chance to be part of the Bournemouth Wheels Festival from 24-26 May.
Local people are being inviting to experience the town’s fantastic festivals close up by becoming volunteers, to undertake a variety of roles to inform and guide visitors to get the most out of their visit to the town and the festival.
Successful schemes like the London 2012 Olympic Games ‘Games Makers’, have shown the importance in recruiting, selecting and training great people who are proud of their town and festivals.
The organisers want Bournemouth’s Festival Makers to become accredited ambassadors for the town’s top events - helping out at the new and thrilling Wheels Festival, the award-winning Air Festival and the spectacular Arts by the Sea Festival.
The Festival Makers programme is sponsored by the Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) and Coastal BID. Lisa Tucker, Chair of the Town Centre BID, said: “This is a brilliant opportunity for local people who are passionate about their town to not only enjoy the major events which take place but also to feel proud to be part of them. It will not only be an amazing experience but people will also have a good story to tell about how they were there and involved.”
Des Simmons, Chair of Coastal BID and festival title sponsor, commented: “The Games Makers were fantastic in helping make London 2012 Olympic Games a big success. We’d encourage any local Games Makers to apply and bring a great Festival Spirit to Bournemouth for the inaugural Bournemouth Wheels Festival!”
Festival Makers will be led by a Bournemouth University’s Festival Makers supporter and they will be recruiting for Festival Maker Team Leaders as well as Festival Makers, which it is hoped previous local Games Makers will apply for. Volunteers will receive full training including specific festival information about security and public safety, information on Bournemouth as a holiday resort and customer service training provided by the National Coastal Tourism Academy.
Dr Debbie Sadd, Bournemouth University’s Festival Makers supporter, said: “To become a Festival Maker is a great and invaluable experience for our event management students who will be able to see what they’ve learnt in practice by being part of a major festival attracting 360,000 plus visitors to the town. Anyone aged 18 or over can apply, we only ask that people are enthusiastic about Bournemouth and are willing to go that extra mile to help deliver a superb event for local people and visitors.”
Anyone interested in being part of this fantastic new Festival Makers scheme can apply online at bournemouthwheels.co.uk/take-part. Applications are open until 26 March.
