Magnifying Science at Oxford Castle Quarter

One of this week’s photoshoots was at Oxford Castle Quarter to promote the launch of Oxfordshire Science Festival.  Karen went along to meet with Renee Watson of the Festival and Laura Holland of Diamond Light Source.  Images from the DLS Synchrotron are displayed around the site during the Festival, showing the finest details of structures of materials.  Renee had brought along a model of the H1N1 flu virus as a prop – thankfully not the real thing – and here’s the team raising the banner for Oxfordshire Science and Diamond Light Source!

The Festival launches officially tomorrow where there will be lots of activities around Oxford City Centre – click for the full story

Diamond Light Source photo exhibition to illuminate Oxford Castle Quarter

Saturday, March 3 to Sunday, March 18. Admission free.

The national synchrotron in Harwell, one of Britain’s most important scientific facilities, is celebrating its tenth anniversary with an outdoor photo exhibition which will light up Oxford Castle Quarter during next month’s Oxfordshire Science Festival.

To illuminate the minds of adults and children, the historic 11th Century castle will showcase the science of tomorrow by displaying a series of 22 landmark images spanning the first decade of the Diamond Light Source.

The synchrotron, a source of incredibly bright light, accelerates electrons to almost the speed of light and can produce X-rays one billion times brighter than the Sun focussed onto a spot smaller than a pin prick.

This powerful light can probe into materials revealing their finest structures and is being used to tackle everything from climate change, to developing new drugs, to combatting diseases such as cancer, malaria and HIV, and for the preservation of important historical artefacts, such as the Tudor warship, TheMary Rose.

The free exhibition will allow members of the public to see amazing images of the synchrotron at work as part of an outdoor photo gallery around Oxford Castle Quarter, itself a ground-breaking facility which was re-designed and re-modelled by Georgian architect William Blackburn, who set out on a pioneering mission to improve prison conditions. 

The photo exhibition running from Saturday, March 3 to Sunday, March 18, will be split into three sections; construction, science and results.

One of  Oxfordshire’s flagship science institutes, the doughnut shaped facility is operated by Diamond Light Source, a company set up in March 2002 to construct the synchrotron at Harwell, near Didcot.

The Diamond Light Source was officially opened by the Queen five years later in 2007, a year after Oxford Castle Quarter was opened by Her Majesty following after a £40m re-development to turn it into the residential and leisure quarter that you see today with its tourist attraction and heritage and education centre bringing history to life.

Laura Holland, Diamond’s Outreach Manager, comments, “Visitors to our photo gallery will be taken on a journey that charts the five year development of the largest science facility to be built in the UK for 40 years, and celebrates the amazing science that has been achieved during its first five years of operation.  The Oxford Castle Quarter is a stunning backdrop for this public exhibition and we are really thrilled to be showcasing 21^st Century science around a castle that dates all the way back to the 11^th Century.”

A free talk revealing more about the work of the Diamond Light Source, entitled ‘Science brighter than the Sun’, will be held in the Oxford Castle Quarter’s Key Learning Centre on Sunday, March 11 at 2pm.

Oxford Castle Quarter Events and Marketing Manager Sarah Mayhew said: “We are delighted to be holding this important exhibition of discovery and hope it inspires both children and adults to find out more about the ground-breaking science taking place in Oxfordshire.

“As a site of social reform for the treatment of prisoners many years ago, it seems apt that Oxford Castle Quarter is playing host to an exhibition on scientific advancements the content of which aims to help all of mankind.”

The Diamond Light Source photo exhibition will be displayed at the Oxford Castle Quarter from Saturday, March 3 to Sunday, March 18. Admission free.

ENDS

Contacts: Oxford Castle: Karen David on mobile 07989 439291, 01865 512662, karen@spriggsdavid.com or Chris Walker 07519 939284. Oxford Castle Events and Marketing Manager, Sarah Mayhew on mobile 07940 287 967, 01865 201 657 or at sm@topgroup.co.uk

 

Nurturing growth with cut flowers

There’s no better way to grow interest in your business than giving people a chance to do what you do. No amount of words, pictures, videos and graphics can take the place of giving someone your shoes for a while, to see how they fit.  And depending on your type of business, this kind of exercise can reap endless benefits in repeat business and customer loyalty.

Especially if your business is as tactile and visual as growing cut flowers.

This is what Green & Gorgeous is discovering as it moves towards the end of another season of growing and teaching. Rachel Siegfried and Jo Wise have been running courses at their tranquil rural base deep in South Oxfordshire for a few years now and see it as a vital way to develop relationships with people and to explain what they are all about.

“The cut flower business is shrouded in mystery for so many people,” explains Rachel.  ”So when we say we grow organic, locally grown flowers, it’s often hard to get across how important that is, and why our flowers are so different from any  you will buy from most florists.

“Talking to people, discussing their likes and dislikes and generally chatting about flowers is the best way to get our message across, and we invest a lot of time and effort in finding ways to do that,” she adds.  ”We attend farmers’ markets, which are always a good way to get into a conversation, but have developed the courses as a more structured, informative and ‘hands on’ way to get people involved.”

The differences between Green & Gorgeous flowers and any you are likely to buy at your local supermarket fall into three main areas:  air miles, chemicals and seasonality.  ”Our flowers haven’t been flown thousands of miles across the world, often in countries where water is scarce and the flower industry deprives local populations of fresh water.  They haven’t been sprayed or treated with a cocktail of chemicals to extend their life.  And they change with the seasons of course, which so many of our customers love, as there is a lot of old fashioned enjoyment to be had from appreciating produce when it’s seasonally available.”

For Green & Gorgeous to communicate these issues effectively, it needs to get people interested in its business and how it all works.  Rachel and Jo are running more courses this year and held an Open Day in September.  ”We will have trained around 50 people  this year and many have turned into ongoing customers, or have passed the word onto their own friends and families.  People attending range from those who have a spare patch of garden and want to grow some cut flowers, to fellow florists and growers who want to know more about the organic, ethical and seasonal side of the business.

“What’s important is that we learn too.  People come to us with all kinds of questions and we find ourselves figuring out solutions to challenges we wouldn’t have done otherwise.  We also develop our skills in presenting the business, talking about all aspects of what we do and encouraging people to try things for themselves. “

Their approach is working.  Green and Gorgeous has grown in the past year and is getting noticed in the media and around the industry.  A feature on the cut flower courses will be in Amateur Gardening later this year and their flowers have been featured in The Sunday Times and Country Homes and Interiors.

Carnival Diary: Streamers out for We7

At Cowley Road Carnival we’re announcing that online music service we7 is supporting us in some innovative ways by promoting the event on its service and providing royalty-paid music streamed to our website. we7 is planning to be at the Carnival with a presence in South Park.

The Carnival organisers can’t thank we7 enough and they in turn are pleased to have made the connection, as this is a sponsorship that has lots of benefits for everyone involved.

For we7 it offers a virtual brand a way of engaging with a geographical and cultural niche of its market in a very physical way. The firm has a base in Oxford, so this is a way of demonstrating that even virtual businesses have a place in the real world. There is value in connecting with their local communities just as much as their online ones.

And then, the Carnival – and Cowley Road – is a seedbed for up and coming musicians, and we7′s humble beginnings were in supporting unknown artists. So in a small way at any rate, association with Cowley Road Carnival connects we7 with its beginnings and helps to differentiate the brand in an increasingly crowded market.

For the musicians appearing at the Carnival, having we7 involved helps them too because it associates them with we7 subscribers who are interested in new music from diverse cultures.

And for the carnival organisers, who have limited resources for extensive promotion, it projects the Carnival online, giving access to a previously untapped seam of music fans. It also associates Cowley Road Carnival with a major music brand, which can only encourage more businesses to join in.

Now that’s worth celebrating.

Vote for the Ashmolean, Oxford’s very own prize museum

Oxford is famous for so many reasons and those of us who live in or near the city tend to take its riches for granted. After all, when you live in a city as beautiful as this, you can be forgiven for not staring agog at every mediaeval tower, grand Georgian townhouse or domed auditorium.

Perhaps the most enviable gift that Oxford residents have, in a cultural sense, is the Ashmolean Museum. There are so many people from around the world who when they visit Oxford see the Ashmolean and swear they would kill to have a museum like it on their doorstep. Open freely to the public all year round, it houses one of the finest collections of art and archaeology you’re likely to come across. There are Egyptian mummies, a major Print Room, an incredibly important collection of musical instruments and even Guy Fawkes’ original lantern!

Its 17th Century origins make it the oldest public museum in the world. Now, after a £61m overhaul, it is one of the newest. As a longstanding Oxford resident I can confirm that the transformation is complete in every sense, as the Museum has taken a completely new approach to display and interaction. The cornerstone of this is Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time, which places beautiful objects from different periods together, taking visitors on a journey of comparisons through time and culture.

The Ashmolean Museum is on the shortlist for the coveted 2010 £100,000 Art Fund Prize, which recognises the museum or gallery which has most increased public appreciation of its treasures.

In my view the Ashmolean achieves this because the transformation has not only put so many objects and collections on show and in appropriate settings, it has successfully created the architectural space to house the journey of Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time, with 39 new galleries, walkways, open vistas and a huge central atrium. As a visitor experience it works for every purpose, from research and education, to tourist visits and inspiring family outings.

My client Carter Jonas, the Oxfordshire branch of this national property firm, has supported the Ashmolean for years throughout its transformation. Now we are actively getting the word out that the Art Fund Prize is influenced by a public online vote. Although it won’t decide the outcome, the votes and comments received by the public will be considered by the judges.

So if, like me, the Ashmolean is your favourite transformed museum in the UK, click here to vote. The deadline is 5pm 18th June, and the results will be announced on the 30th.

Sometimes forgetting can help your audience to remember

Last night at a Rufus Wainwright concert in Oxford we were enthralled by a performer with a huge talent and one who has a strong message to put across. The first half was given over to his new album, ‘All days are nights: Songs for Lulu,’ a homage to the tragedy that struck the family last year with the death of his mother, Kate McGarrigle. A beautiful piece of work, filled with many heartfelt songs.

In the second half he lightened up with songs familiar with his fans. It turned out that was just just as well because, on two occasions he forgot the words entirely, only recovering when an avid fan in the audience shouted them out.

Funnily enough, this turned out to be the most memorable part of the whole evening and for all the right reasons. I’m not familiar with his work, but will from now on always recognize ‘Little Sister’ and the powdered wig in the first verse.

Which just goes to show that if you want to get a message across, sometimes forgetting your lines can be the best way. Or in PR terms, it’s a good thing to be human – be too slick and you’ll lose your audience.

A date with Oxford Preservation Trust

I joined a meeting with Debbie Dance, director of Oxford Preservation Trust to review the 2010 Calendar they had produced this year for the first time.  Designer Sophie Durand and photographer Chris Andrews were also there to share feedback and discuss what works best for this year.

OPT is the perfect organisation to produce something as visual as this.  Oxford’s version of The National Trust, it exists to preserve historic sites and rural sites in and around Oxford.  Its properties and land therefore make for a beautiful collection of images that can be stunning any time of the year.

But Oxford is awash with calendars. Every tourist shop and book shop you go into from September onwards has an array of cityscapes, historic buildings and ‘city life’ closeups.  So how do you stand out?

Chris Andrews knows what makes a good calendar image.  Photographer and calendar publisher, he’d been commissioned by Debbie to shoot the Trust’s properties last year.  The 2010 calendar images were curated from these shots.  They’re not what you usually get in an Oxford calendar.  Hay bales in a meadow, an angular shot of Oxford Castle, mist over the river and a leafy walk aren’t the images that immediately come to mind.

A hard act to follow?  Absolutely!  But there will be one in 2011 and as it’s in the early stages you’ll have to wait for details.  I can tell you that an overall theme is planned and there will be more information about how the public can access the Trust’s properties.  OPT’s flagship annual event, Oxford Open Doors will also be featured and striking images will adorn in a new square format, making it easier to display, mail and distribute.

As a PR exercise the Calendar is a hit.  Regional magazine Limited Edition ran articles over two editions last Autumn, including a competition to win one.  It really is the perfect showcase for this organisation which works hard to widen its public reach in the city (also the thinking behind Oxford Open Doors).

Marketing activity such as this can only to drive people towards OPT, become more aware of its work and ultimately to support it.  After all, Oxford Preservation Trust plays a crucial part in protecting so many landmarks and open spaces that make Oxford what it is.  And that has a bearing on tourism, the economy and our cultural life.

That’s worth making a date if anything is!