Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2014-07-13 10:49:44 - Graham Ellis
Well ... I've not seen anything like it. Several dozen of us - TransWilts Community Rail Partnership and friends (Friends of Bristol Suburban railways of special note) walked in the Melksham Carival Parade yesterday, themed on "things you can take on a train". We had pushchair, bicycle, luggage, backpacks, a gentleman in a wheelchair, stroller, dogs, and people from toddlers asleep through to senior citizens. As we walked through the crowded streets, we handed out leaflets with TransWilts train timetables to inform people of their station and train service which is effectively new this year.
I have walked in the parade before, and handed out community leaflets before. What I had NOT seen before was the enthusiasm which which the lealfets were snapped up. There's a natural "no thank you" to yet another leaflet at events like this, and people naturally keep quiet when you shout at a group "would anyone here like a leaflet ...". But that didn't happen yesterday - the "no thank you" turned rapidly to "yes please" and with more hands going our from neighbouring parties on the pavement too. And shouting to crowds in pub garden, on grassy bands and deep on some corners "would anyone", hands went out and a bundle of leaflets was passed around - "take one and pass them around for me" style.
We started with around 1900 leaflets ... had probably less than 100 left by the end of the walk. Effective? Absolutely. Bright leaflets grasped in hand and read as they were taken, and very VERY few of "ours" dropped in the street confetti left afterswards; we picked up perhaps five on the half mile at the end of the route where the parade route doubles back over the section that starts out really crowded.
At the end of the walk ... an opportunity for a quick drink at the Unicorn before we headed back to the station, for all those in our group who didn't actually live in Melksham to catch the 20:02. Around 30 people got on that train, some 15 to 20 from our group. Six or seven people got off, and there were a couple of dozen through passengers. The one coach train looked "NESTing" - Nearly Every Seat Taken - as it pulled out and that's just perfect and what our day and promotion is all about.
Here's another of the floats - the Pig and Whistle. Wow - fantastic - but really one of the things we missed in walking was seeing all the great entries. We were trivial / casual / there for a purpose. They put so much in!
