Doors Open Days HQ opens up for Doors Open Days!
We were delighted to welcome 527 people into our wonderful Tobacco Merchants House here in Glasgow for Doors Open Days on Saturday 21st September. We had every age - from 8 to 80 - come and join us for a wander around, a biscuit or two and a natter.
We were so happy to see our offices bustling with visitors!
The nature of our eighteenth century building means it’s quite a complex operation for us to staff it safely for visitors, so we only open it for alternate years, but we weren’t going to miss the opportunity in our thirtieth anniversary year! We mounted an exhibition of our My Place Award winners from earlier on in the year, talked people through our extensive library of built environment texts, and handed out a huge range of information on other Doors Open Days events, including our own programme.
We were really pleased by the interest in learning more about our own building and the slave trade. We were able to hand out copies of the Glasgow City Council-sponsored self-guided tour It wisnae us! on the connections between city centre buildings and slavery (available for download here), and made sure everyone knew where to find out more information about Black History Month. If you didn’t manage to visit us, we’ll be doing lots of cross-posting across the month on our social media channels, so keep your eyes peeled.
Most of all, though, it was such a pleasure to be able to talk to people about what the history of their buildings meant to them, and why they enjoyed Doors Open Days. We had some lovely feedback:
“Made me realise that I live in a vibrant, beautiful city, made me want to explore more and learn about my heritage”.
“ Loved it! Always so much new to learn and understand. The input and commitment of the volunteers really added to the experience. Thanks”
“ Always a great experience, discovering hidden treasures, uncovering unknown/forgotten history and meeting interesting people”.
“ Love seeing inside building that I pass regularly and had no idea what amazing things were inside”.
One of our visitors on Doors Open Days at Doors Open Days HQ!