Fell Museum may hold answers for firehouse | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

MASTERTON'S struggling Jubilee Fire House doesn't have to look far to find a museum role model that could give it some handy hints on how to become successful.

The Fire House could take a leaf out of Featherston's Fell Locomotive Museum's book to learn the lessons needed to become a progressive, and profitable tourist attraction.

Instead of crying poverty and going cap in hand to council for money, the Fell Museum survives quite nicely thank you on its ability to attract customers, collect their dollars and combine this with clever fundraising, without touching up South Wairarapa ratepayers for a single cent.

According to Friends of the Fell president Noel Meek there is no magic bullet for success. He puts it down to a few simple steps, foresight and staff and volunteers who are prepared to roll their sleeves up.

The first step is to open the doors.

"We are open every day except for Christmas Day and Anzac Day morning, it's the only way to go."

Opening hours are 10am to 4.30pm on weekdays and 10am to 4pm on weekends and even then the Fell people are flexible.

"We open earlier, sometimes at 9am ? if we get a special request, because we are catering for tourists and we take the line that the customer is always right."

Staff must there for more than just unlocking the door though.

The Fell museum's financial success allows it to employ a staff member, Brenda Schrader, from Monday to Friday but at the weekend and public holidays it is over to the volunteers.

Mr Meek said it is essential volunteer staff know what they are talking about.

"Our volunteers don't just sit behind the counter.

"They are out there on the floor, doing the work and answering questions."

Proper product presentation is an essential ingredient to success.

The Fell museum is finicky on details, even making sure than captions under photos on display are not in type which is too small to read.

"Presentation and professionalism is essential, it's no good being half-hearted about it."

Unlike the organisers of the Jubilee Fire House, who have been vague about patronage and have claimed a dubious 800 visitors a year, the Fell Museum is up front.

The latest balance sheet shows entry fees amounted to $24,419, mostly collected before a recent fees increase.

Mr Meek said this roughly equates to 6000 a year not counting Friends of the Fell Museum members, who have free entry as often as they like.

During the year the museum also collected $1865 in donations.

South Wairarapa District Council's contribution for the year was a $750 grant towards electricity costs.

In the same period the council gifted $16,000 to Aratoi in Masterton.

The Fell museum has secured Lottery Commission grants and a tourism grant for helping build the toilets but otherwise there are "no handouts".

"We pay our own way," Mr Meek said.

In the early days when getting the museum established, this meant doing a round of the South Wairarapa pubs on Friday nights raffling a pig-in-a-barrow.

The organisers also staged fashion parades and all sorts of other fundraisers.

Now the museum has a whole range of Fell Museum giftware on sale including Kaitoke mugs, miniature cup and saucer sets, thimbles, tape measures, nail clippers, hairbrushes and name and address books.

It is gearing itself up for a busy summer season with a raft of cruise ship parties due.

Mr Meek said each cruise brings two or three busloads of tourists and the museum has cruise bookings on December 20, January 2, 8, and 28, February 21 and 25.