Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery wins the Favourite Museum or Historical Attraction Category in the Primary Times Reader Star Awards 2017 - Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

By: Jo Clarke
Added: 21 November 2017

Although its building is currently closed for the redevelopment of The Box, the Plymouth readers of the Primary Times have voted for Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery as their ‘Favourite Museum or Historical Attraction’ in this year’s Reader Star Awards.

While construction work for The Box is underway Museum staff are running a ‘Museum On Tour’ programme which is taking exhibitions, partnership projects and activities to a variety of offsite venues across the city and beyond.

Family-friendly events during the school holidays and weekends are a key part of the ‘Museum On Tour’ programme. Over the past few months they have included arts and crafts workshops, storytelling sessions and natural history events.

The interest in the Primary Times Reader Star Awards continues to grow each year. Over the last couple of months, the highest recorded number of readers voted for their favourite family friendly places and people in the area, in a specially designed online survey.

The awards are distinctive in nature, due to their authenticity. They are chosen, organically, by the readers of Primary Times, namely local families with primary school aged children.

Local families were informed of the questionnaire in Primary Times, a family friendly magazine that is delivered to primary schools across Plymouth. With a distribution of 26,000 copies the magazine reaches 94 primary schools in Plymouth. Parents of children aged 4 to 11 across the city cast their nominations in an online survey.

There were 8 different categories asking readers for their favourite: family attraction; family eating place; indoor play or activity centre; outdoor activity centre; museum or historical attraction; sports venue; party venue or entertainer; theatre or arts centre.

One tightly fought-after category was that of favourite Museum or Historical Attraction which garnered a broad spectrum of answers. The interesting artefacts, historical stories and fun family events ensured that Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery gained the most votes.

Councillor Glenn Jordan, cabinet member for culture said: “We are so pleased to receive this accolade and would like to thank the Primary Times readers for giving us their votes. Our motto ever since the Museum and Art Gallery closed in September 2016 has been ‘The building is closed but the service continues.’ Staff have worked extremely hard since then to provide a great family-friendly offer in venues such as the Guildhall, the Council House and the Mayflower Museum. This award is a testament to their effort and creativity. No doubt there will be plenty more family fun to follow in 2018.”

Linda Edwards, Publishing Editor at Primary Times said: “We are thrilled with the extraordinary response to this year’s Reader Star Award survey and we’d like to say a massive thank you to all the readers who took part. The results are sure to help other local families decide what to do and where to go. Each individual category winner deserves worthy recognition, as they are clearly offering something that our readers want.”

To can stay up-to-date with the ‘Museum On Tour’ programme by visiting the what’s on section of www.plymhearts.org

You can read more about the Primary Times Star Awards at www.primarytimes.net/plymouth

Ends

For more details about the Primary Times Reader Star Awards please contact Alicia Coles or Kirsty Woodgate on 01626 891944 or email alicia@razzpublications.co.uk or kirsty@razzpublications.co.uk

Editors Notes:

The Primary Times Reader Star Award survey was featured in the Back to School magazine and 26,000 copies were distributed to Primary Schools in Plymouth.
Aside from the overall winner, there were 8 different categories asking readers for their favourite: family attraction; family eating place; indoor play or activity centre; outdoor activity centre; museum or historical attraction; sports venue; party venue or entertainer; theatre or arts centre.