Forest BB

I was kinda shocked at how much of a complete mess the forest looked through the front windows last time I was in town (a few weeks ago)... ripped and falling down posters, filthy windows, lack of lighting. This stuff is important as it deters people from entering and using the forest... slimming down the wide demographic that used to go to the forest into a crusty ghetto.

Its central to the aims of the forest to offer an open, welcome and inclusive space ... the kind of environment you create is as important as the events, the cafe and everything else ... front of house shouldnt be just an add-on.

Getting the windows regularly cleaned, changing posters, lighting up the space from behind the windows would be a start. switching on other lights in front room and in the gallery so people can see the art are also good.

if you don't have an active front of house team, regular maintenance of the space should get carried out as part of a kitchen shift.

the windows have been sorted now , i think the plan is to have very few posters on the windows , there is now a seat in window . and it all looks well better . although they is still work to do with foh.in general

You probably saw the front room at its worst. The windows have been cleaned and the posters removed. The red room looks much better now.

Would the window cleaning be a regular thing to do? Maybe every 3 weeks or so on Sunday morning? I'd be happy to help with that...

ok good to know somethings getting done

yes you need to clean the windows regularly, whether you pay a window cleaner or do it yourselves.

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theres no success like failure and failures no success at all

I'd be up for cleaning the windows on periodical sunday mornings.

mr mullins was working on them only yesterday....

the future is sparkly!

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the more you think, the more you stink

So... if we say roughly 3 weeks, I can be there on Sunday 13th April to give them another go.

yeah sounds good.

Windows should be done more frequently than every three weeks to keep them looking good. We bought the necessary equipment (thanks Susana), so it's easy to do and almost therapeutic.

No posters should be in the front window. They make the windows hard to clean and just fall down. They leave sticky blue tack traces which I spent close to an hour scraping off with a knife a couple weeks ago.

I reckon the window and seating space looking pretty is much better advertising than any poster we could put up there. It is also easier to enforce no posters than try to say yes to some and not others.

really? NO posters? that seems ungood. Chris made a poster hang area there years ago. it was neat and didn't need to be pulled down to clean. we ought to put our posters in the window otherwise we look more insulated.

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www.ryanvanwinkle.com

i have a new plan for posters!

i will implement it, and it will not messy messs the windows...

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Maybe it could work? But it will be a kaleidoscopic blend of mysterious shadows and rainbow hued-dreams seen through compassionate tears.

Okay, how often are we talking? Weekly? every other week? I'm happy to do it whenever I'm around on a Sunday morning, but can't guarantee I'll be there every week though...
I understand Danny did them very recently, do we want them done again this Sunday? Happy to do it if we do... better do them before they get really gross and horrible, takes much less time too!

I've done a weekly sheet with dates of the week (Sunday to following Saturday), with spaces for a name and a signature. People can put their name in the name column for any week and then add their signature once they've done the windows.

This sheet can be kept in the kitchen if that is OK with the KMs - back of the purple cupboard door maybe.

I've put up the window cleaning rota on the inside of the purple cupboard door. You can sign up in advance to do it one week and then put your initials/date when you've done it.

Has anyone seen the window cleaning stuff - wiper blade, furry thing and pole? We looked this morning and couldn't see them anywhere.

there was a wiper blade and a couple of poles in the gallery cupboards when we cleaned them out on saturday. We just put them back in there.

no sign of a furry thing though.

Safe.