Mrs Fiddlesticks
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getting more folk through the door to a coffee morningThe monthly school coffee morning I run at school is still slow of 'trade' so if I put down what I've done so far for advertising etc can you spot anything I've missed
Firstly the Head at the school is very risk adverse and doesn't want it advertised outside of the village.
I put up posters on the school notice board and centrally placed village notice board.
There are bright sandwich boards advertising it which are placed at the entry roads in to the village on the weekend before the coffee morning ( it takes place on a Wednesday)I've had positive comments about them!
All parents get a flyer during the week preceeding the coffee morning
Its mentioned in the school newsletter and PTA newsletter.
I've put an advert in the parish magazine in the diary section and am thinking of doing another larger advert for it to repeat the one I did when I started it.
The problems as far as I see it are these -
2 influential mums have left the village and they tended to bring friends who can't seem to come on their own 
More mums are going out to work. Whereas returning to work as the kids grew say towards the end of primary school was the norm, now reception aged children (ie the 4 year olds) are starting at school and the mum's are off and out to work. So there are literally less mums about .
So perhaps I need to work on the retired of the village. Luckily there is a wonderful active lady I know, who persuaded her book club to start their meetings with coffee this morning. How else can I reach them?
Perhaps I could target the pre-school more on the basis that the kids are younger and perhaps the mums are about more - they share a school notice board but perhaps I should do flyers for them?
I made £15 this morning but there is a sense of doing a lot of work and not attracting very many folk so the money made was those who did come then spending a bit ( I do a fair trade in panic buying of cake for lunchboxes or late breakfasts) which is good but still...
All suggestions welcome!
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LynneA
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Would you be able to leave leaflets on local bus routes?
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| LynneA wrote: | | Would you be able to leave leaflets on local bus routes? |
there is only one bus that goes through the village and I've seen it go by mostly empty sadly so I don't think that would generate much extra interest but I can see where you're coming from.
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toggle
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evening before.
tray with samples of cake (half inch cubes)
walk round the parents waiting to pick their kids up, invite them, have some flyers detaiing time (some people need a visual reminder)
give them chat, leaflet and try a piece of cake.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| toggle wrote: | evening before.
tray with samples of cake (half inch cubes)
walk round the parents waiting to pick their kids up, invite them, have some flyers detaiing time (some people need a visual reminder)
give them chat, leaflet and try a piece of cake. |
 ooh that's possible! (doable too - forgot to mention there are only 55 kids at this school so its never going to be huge)
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toggle
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20 years ago, i'd have said do the post office on pension day as well.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| toggle wrote: | | 20 years ago, i'd have said do the post office on pension day as well. |
our post office closed some 14 years ago along with the last shop so yep..
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Frewen
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Do you have a vilage link/ local area newsletter or magazine where you could advertise for a reasonable cost?
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toggle
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maybee some A5/6 leaflets through doors near the school. get other parents to do this, if poss, get them to do their own street
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| Frewen wrote: | | Do you have a vilage link/ local area newsletter or magazine where you could advertise for a reasonable cost? |
the parish magazine is the best for that and I'm already in that.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| toggle wrote: | | maybee some A5/6 leaflets through doors near the school. get other parents to do this, if poss, get them to do their own street |
I have wondered about that since there are sheltered bungalows near the school. Can do that certainly
The PTA newsletter is delivered to all doors in the village and I'm in that so that must help although its a bit erratic schedule wise.
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Belinda
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For what it's worth (and based on my experiences as a community teacher, I run school based courses and recruitment is the most difficult part often):
A school of 55 children is far too small a base from which to attract vibrant, regular numbers to your coffee morning from amongst the school parents alone; much larger primary schools sometimes struggle with similar events. There will be fewer than 55 mothers (and it's not only mothers of course but they are in the majority on the primary school parents' networks) because some children will be siblings. Some mums will be out at work. Others will already have regular commitments or are just not coffee morning type people. Sometimes there are issues about parent/school relationships (not necessarily in your situation but this is often a factor). You'll be lucky if you get two or three parents along regularly from that recruitment base to be honest. You need to branch out if it's to work.
It's certainly worth publicising to preschool - but do bear in mind that to a preschool mum, that free morning when a child is in preschool is very precious time (particularly if it's the first time she has had regular time without the children, which often it is). She will already have a thousand urgent things planned for her 2.5 hour slot and going to a coffee morning might not be one of them unless she is eg new to the area and keen to make new acquaintances. I'm on a preschool management committee locally and getting parents along to coffee mornings hasn't been a success for us because the parents already have their time very fully planned and I'm afraid a coffee morning is sometimes seen as an interruption to their morning rather than a social benefit! So don't be too depressed if you don't get a positive response; people's existing commitments may mean that less focused social events aren't a priority for them.
I do think there's mileage in targeting retired people though. Where community venues such as church halls run coffee mornings, they tend to do quite well amongst older people who may well enjoy a drop in and chat event.
Perhaps part of your thinking might be considering what is the overall purpose of your coffee morning? It might be to build the school community, the village community, foster friendships amongst retired people, introduce preschool parents to parents of older children, or a mixture....but you may find it hard to hit all those targets at once. One possible approach is to make it 'coffee and....' rather than just coffee. 'Coffee and Cake Sale'/Coffee and Plant Stall/Coffee and Fair Trade samples/Coffee and recipe swap/Coffee and book sale/Coffee and bric a brac is often far more of a draw than just 'coffee morning'; people want a focus for their time. All this of course sounds like a lot more hard work and it could be. But these are possible ways of attracting some new people.
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marigold
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What about a theme for each month? Eg. Book/magazine swap, crafts for sale, seed swap, allotment surplus sale, Xmas cards, exhibition of children's work, bring your knitting/crochet, craft demo/have a go....
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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thanx for your input Belinda.
It is already run as more than a coffee morning ( I put that for brevity) There is a bring and buy table, a book and magazine swap and a local resources table where local traders and events (like yoga classes) are advertised with leaflets to take away. I deliberately started those things from the beginning to make sure that there was more than just coffee and my flyers and other advertising says that on it.
The point of the coffee morning is two fold. The biggest one is to set the school as part of the community more; to act as a meeting place for parents and villagers - I think its something Ofstead are now very keen on. The local resource table is part of that and an important service on its own in that it helps local businesses and things of interest reach hopefully those who would use those sorts of services etc.
I'm an eco friendly person so advertising things like the local veg box scheme fits in well with my ethos (and that of the local village eco group) plus the book and magazine swap boxes also act as a green and recycling thing and that has proved popular so far - I've discovered that if I leave the box of books in the staff room by the time the next coffee morning comes round the stock has changed.
As a mum I can all to well remember the rush of things to do with my 2.5 hours off at pre-school so point taken; might try a bit harder in there though. I do think that times have changed though. That's not defeatist but something you've said Belinda makes me wonder if I'm not doing too badly in the circumstances given the size of school. We had 11 customers today spread out over the morning, 5 of which were villagers.
Its run once a month - is that too infrequent?
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gil
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If the purpose is to raise funds, rather than act as a social focus, why not consider running it less often, but making more of it. Every month, with a seasonal theme ?
I'm sure I've posted a thread about summer Sunday afternoon fund-raising teas in the parish halls round here. They are a fixture, and people go to them in droves; several generations of the same family might use them as a meet up point; some folk tour all the hall teas weekend by weekend; others come from miles around. Often combined with plant stall, raffle, or sales table.
Try leafleting the nearest pensioners lunch club or similar group
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Belinda
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I'd say if you are getting 11 visitors, (even if not all are school parents) then that's not bad at all given that it's a relatively small community. It sounds really worthwhile. These things can take a long time to 'grow' as established in people's minds - worth persisting. Monthly is not necessarily too infrequent; regularity of dates is sometimes more important than frequency of dates.
An ounce of personal contact is worth a bushel of leaflets. The advertising will be helping to make it known but personal 1:1 invitation is often the clincher in actually getting people to come along. Maybe ask your small group of regulars to see if they can personally invite others along next time from amongst their own acquaintances? Maybe have a leaflet actually at the coffee morning for visitors to take away and pass on to a friend? Sounds like you just need one or two more community-minded parents to share the workload a bit.
Best of luck. I would come along if I lived near you!
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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the village has about 500 residents in total but (and this is a big but) it is dominated by large and v expensive houses - not our house - and a high number of private schooled kids, housekeepers and electric gates.
(who got the telegraph on Saturday and read in the property section about a couple who'd made their first million on property development - they live in our village with the house pictured, saw it being built -described as a 'chi-chi' village )
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vegplot
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Dare I suggest change it from a coffee morning to a gin morning?
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Yarrow
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At least you could make your own gin. Hey- what about cider morning for all those pappers? and womyn with heart, of course.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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actually a local day centre have been invited for next time so a mini bus will arrive with about 8-10 pensioners and the school is organising a special sing a long sort of assembly. The old folk will love the kids! More of this sort of partnership is to be encouraged!
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Belinda
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That sounds good, bet everyone will enjoy it!
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