{"id":6944,"date":"2013-12-13T18:03:11","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T18:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=6944"},"modified":"2013-12-13T18:03:11","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T18:03:11","slug":"hods-welcomes-1m-new-visitors-in-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=6944","title":{"rendered":"HODs welcomes 1m new visitors in 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over one million people discovered the joys of Heritage Open Days (HODs) for the first time this year, around 50% of the spectacular 2.1 million people who visited an event over the four-day festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

HODs writes:
\n<\/span>The weather may not have been kind \u2013 fierce winds and storms meant we couldn\u2019t quite match the records set in 2012 \u2013 but the responses of those who did take part certainly were, with 99% of both visitors and volunteers on record as having enjoyed their experiences.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s festival saw far more experiential and interactive events, from living history days to art-themed walks and spoken word events.\u00a0 Many sites saw record visitor numbers in spite of the poor weather; the People\u2019s Gallery at Hull \u2013 recently announced as UK Capital of Culture 2017 \u2013 welcomed an astonishing 12,000 visitors, while Park Hospital in Liverpool saw 8,000 people through its doors.\u00a0 Rachel Webster, organiser at the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum said; \u2018This was the first year we\u2019ve taken part and I\u2019m so glad we did.\u00a0 It was our busiest day of all time and has been an enormous boost to staff.\u2019<\/p>\n

Localism \u2013 always at the core of Heritage Open Days \u2013 proved to be more important than ever in 2013.\u00a0 85% of visitors lived locally, with 60% feeling inspired by Heritage Open Days to find out more about their local area.\u00a0 The event has always been underpinned by local people working together \u2013 some 50,000 of them in 2013\u2013 and over 71% of volunteers say that what motivates them to be involved is to feel a part of their local community.\u00a0 Such enthusiasm is clearly contagious; one in five visitors said they felt encouraged to get involved with an event next year.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s in store for 2014?<\/p>\n

Heritage Open Days remains committed to making local history accessible to all \u2013 young and old, families, friends and individuals \u2013 and particularly those who wouldn\u2019t usually consider visiting a heritage attraction.\u00a0 In 2013, half of the sites that are also open to visitors outside Heritage Open Days reported a more diverse audience during their participation in the event, with 28% seeing more local people and 25% welcoming more families.\u00a0 And our fun approach means that after attending a Heritage Open Days event, many visitors begin to engage with the heritage sector more fully; 66% of visitors said they felt inspired to visit other heritage sites in the future.<\/p>\n

\u2018Heritage Open Days is a wonderful, informal way to introduce people to their local history, and I\u2019m looking forward to some really creative events in 2014,\u2019 says Patron of Heritage Open Days, Loyd Grossman.\u00a0 \u2018The way we interact with and experience heritage is changing, and Heritage Open Days is at the forefront of that; this year we saw the most diverse range of tours and experiences ever.\u00a0 In 2014 we celebrate our 20th anniversary and I\u2019m looking forward to the biggest and best Heritage Open Days weekend we\u2019ve ever seen.\u2019<\/p>\n

For more facts and figures for 2013, see<\/span>: LINK\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

See more at<\/span>:\u00a0LINK<\/a><\/p>\n

For press releases see<\/span>: LINK<\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

HOD article<\/span>: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over one million people discovered the joys of Heritage Open Days (HODs) for the first time this year, around 50% of the spectacular 2.1 million people who visited an event over the four-day festival. HODs writes: The weather may not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6945,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6944\/revisions\/6945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}