Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Caroline Simpson on January 10, 2014 at 15:51

Perhaps the Tab church would put up a notice board - they could fix a sheet of timber to the railings and it could be painted up to be a Community Notice Board.  ditto St Michael's at Bowes church.   or.... Find a piece of wooden fencing, ask the owner's permission, then turn that into an informal notice board like they do in some other parts of LOndon - could paint it up.    Or ask Thames Water if you could put one by the bridge at the north end of Whittington.  These would be boards with open fronts - so that anyone could put up a notice.  To have a locked one is a bit of a hassle.  And then once you have got one or two.... you have to try to keep them 'tidy' and up to date, but this is reasonably easy.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sureka Fernando on January 10, 2014 at 17:09

Great idea Caroline. If I could offer another perspective - I run a start-up business (launched in April 2013) teaching Salsa classes in Bowes Park and I get about 50 per cent of my business through posters and leafleting and the other 50 per cent online. My students include an elderly gentleman of 81 who describes the classes as 'a life-line' after his wife had a stroke and he has become her carer. Another student was dangerously overweight and the classes have helped her to lose weight in a fun, social way. Another is MD of his company and never misses a class as he uses it to de-stress and have a laugh. Another couple met through the class and will be celebrating their first Valentine's Day together this year. In addition, we hold regular Charity Salsa Parties which, since launching in April 2013, has raised over £800 for charities including NSPCC, Save The Children and Water Aid. So the minor irritation of seeing information you don't want to see should be weighed up against the fact that a) others may want to see it and b) the results may spread a lot more happiness to the local and wider international community than the irritation caused to those who aren't interested.

Speaking personally too as a single mum struggling to establish a start-up business, if advertisers had any sort of budget, they wouldn't spend hours upon hours walking around in the rain putting up posters so I think the suggestion of simply pulling them down is especially harsh, particularly if they have family to support and offer so much to the local and international community. I suggest that it is better to help small businesses establish themselves so they can continue contributing to creating a thriving local community and no longer find themselves in a position where they have to advertise on trees. 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Kemball-Cook on January 10, 2014 at 16:26

I agree. It looks awful and if we leave them up, it just encourages more people to do it - like vertical litter. Don't get me started on litter...

Here's my suggestion.

If it was ten years ago I would shrug. However this very medium we are using (local websites and emails) is a perfect solution. If people realised that they could post adverts for art classes and lost dogs via B&BC, PGC, Streetlife &c and by doing so reach thousands of people instead of a few dozen, they would stop immediately.

So... if the poster gives an email contact address, take down the poster and send the person a nice email with contact details for two or three local web services, stressing the large audience they will then get. If there's no email address, print off a nice large label with suggested URLs and paste it over the poster - this will also have the effect of advertising these great local resources, as those who put up posters would be expected to revisit them frequently. After a while you can then take them down, I would say.

What I would be reluctant to do is simply take down notices (unless they are obviously time-expired) because as you say, in the absence of a physical local noticeboard, people still feel the need to communicate needs. But if we offer them something better, this should be a solution?

Physical noticeboards are really not much of a solution as they require physical maintenance and some sort of "monitoring". IMHO. Nice in parks though.

BW Geoff

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kate Franzmann on January 10, 2014 at 17:35

Surely a good place to start would the the Community eating places in Myddleton Road.  Could The Step and Mum's Lounge be persuaded to have notice boards with local info? Would be really useful.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on June 20, 2014 at 9:20

This issue has resurfaced again this week with a question form Kevin about the "ethics of guerrilla marketing"  ... what do you think?

• ▶ Reply