Save Cogges Museum
Cogges museum cuts season prices
THE Cogges Manor Farm Museum at Witney is cutting its season ticket prices in a bid to get more visitors through the gates.
It is the first definite move by the museum, which has been making losses of £250,000 a year, to find ways of becoming viable for the future.
Today it was confirmed by the owners, Oxfordshire County Council, that season prices for 2008 were being cut considerably.
The following have been agreed by the council, with last year's season ticket prices in brackets: adult £18 (£27.50), child £7.50 (£15), family £45 (£80), students and pensioners £15 (£18).
Single visit tickets, however, have been rounded up by much smaller percentages: adult £6 (£5.70), child £2.50 (£2.45), family £15 (£14.50), concessions £5 (£4.85).
The thinking behind it is to get customer loyalty and community involvement from local people in the museum's future.
Lorraine Horne, marketing and publicity manager, said: "We looked at various options and decided on a really good deal on season tickets.
"Hopefully, more people will buy them and get us off to a good start to the season, with money in the bank.
"For local people it is a really great offer. They will be able to make multiple visits throughout the season for a much lower cost."
Last year the museum had 25,000 visits through the gates, but only 150 season tickets were sold.
The season starts for the Easter bank holiday weekend on March 22.
A few months ago the museum's future was in doubt but, following a public outcry, the county council guaranteed funding for the next three years on a reducing scale.
A special project group has been set up headed by Jim Couchman, cabinet member for social and community services, to look into ways of bringing in outside finance and expertise.
11:18am Friday 15th February 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Nigel, Witney on 2:59pm Fri 15 Feb 08
How about opening earlier and later especially in the summer months?
Saw on the signs outside today it is going to be 11 to 5 on Sat and Sun and 10.30 to 5 Tues to Fri which basically means they will be open an extra hour on Sat and Sun.
One of the main groups the museum should be attracting is people with young kids but young kids get up early and want to be doing things before 11 am.
If you believe David Cameroon the reason he has not been before is it is never open when he wants to take his kids there early at the weekends. Don't suppose we will be seeing him there this year then!
How about opening earlier and later especially in the summer months?
Saw on the signs outside today it is going to be 11 to 5 on Sat and Sun and 10.30 to 5 Tues to Fri which basically means they will be open an extra hour on Sat and Sun.
One of the main groups the museum should be attracting is people with young kids but young kids get up early and want to be doing things before 11 am.
If you believe David Cameroon the reason he has not been before is it is never open when he wants to take his kids there early at the weekends. Don't suppose we will be seeing him there this year then!
Posted by: Tony, Oxford on 6:01pm Fri 15 Feb 08
All a bit circular, isn't it? Cogges can't afford the staff to open the hours it would ideally wish, so people who want longer hours don't come, so it loses money, so the County Council target it for funding reductions. For a group of people who claim to believe in business models, the County Council have a strange idea of how investment works.
All a bit circular, isn't it? Cogges can't afford the staff to open the hours it would ideally wish, so people who want longer hours don't come, so it loses money, so the County Council target it for funding reductions. For a group of people who claim to believe in business models, the County Council have a strange idea of how investment works.
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
