Solving First World Problems with Parent Power. If there is one thing the British do very well, it’s queue

 

It was anticipated by all who were planning to attend the Gromit Unleashed event 2013, that queues were going to be long with waits ticking into the hours. The City had witnessed the infamous queues for the 2009 Banksy Exhibition at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, where people were waiting far into Redland to see the graffiti artist’s hotly anticipated artwork.

The interest for and queues to get into Gromit Unleashed has been no less fearsome.

Bristol was hit by Gromit fever earlier this summer, when 80 five foot decorated statues went on display across the city for six weeks.

As a final farewell bid, the Gromit Unleashed organisers collected all the dogs up for an exhibition initially planned to be held at the Royal West of England Academy on Whiteladies Road.

Due to ‘unprecedented public interest’ in the event, the Gromits were moved to a large former Habitat shop next door.

The event, running from 18 until the 22 September, billed as being open daily from 9am until 6pm on the weekdays – final admission at 5.30pm, promptly closed its queues at gone 4pm, just in time to greet Bristol parents who had brought their young children up to 30 miles after finishing school.

Despite being at the point where a sign stated that queues from here would last an hour, security staff were trying to turn people away, saying that they would not let anyone else in despite there being plenty of time to queue and see the exhibition before closing time.

It was too much. Children were distraught, parents were distraught, and from then on ensued a situation which shows how over 30s in the UK do the best protests in the world. The organisers were summoned as the families of Bristol did not move. Did not budge. Nobody was moving a muscle until the Gromits had been viewed. There was no shouting. No swearing. Just a unified Blitz Spirit determination that the Gromit opening hours had been specified. We had turned up during those times. And no one was leaving until the final dogs had been ticked off the list.

The situation, rather sadly, reflected badly on the organisers. The charity lost money because people were turned away, and no one could go into the gift shop without going into the exhibition thus losing even more in sales.

While volunteers for the exhibition who had given their time freely criticised the public on Facebook for moaning about various issues, there is no point biting the hand that feeds it. Yes it’s a charity, yes people are working hard raising money for an incredibly good cause, but let’s have it thought through a little better. The organisers of the event were Wild in Art, not a charity but a Limited Company specialising in art promotion, creation and events on the streets.

 

The organiser, Charlie Langhorne, finally braved the crowds, but sadly appeared clueless. He could not answer any questions other than to state that nobody would be getting in. He didn’t seem concerned about the contradictions he was making and that the tired young children were absolutely distraught.

Apparently, the team had been monitoring the situation all day. During this time, not once did they have the initiative to mention on social media – which all the parents had been refreshing all day – to say they were going to cut the queue.

 

 

In fact, one Twitter user asked how long the queuing time was as he was to arrive there at 4.30pm after collecting his children from school. He was told around an hour. There was no mention of any risk of queues being cut. Certainly the organisers learned something that day about social media.

The Gromit Unleashed event ran in the city for six weeks. Why not get out and see them then? Sneered the smug on the event’s Facebook page. Not everyone has access to a car to be able to reach some of the Gromits placed so far out of the city. And after all, when experienced organisers promote an event being open at certain times of the day, you kind of expect that means you will get into it.

At 5.45pm, the anxious crowd who had stood firm and refused to leave were finally allowed into the exhibition. They clapped and cheered and thanked others who had stood by and refused to leave too. ‘Just 15 minutes’ we were warned at the doors, and 15 minutes was all that was needed.

For the children, it was the greatest dog show on earth. For the parents, it was all about the wit and intelligence that comes with age as we protested with reasoned arguments and orderly queues. We showed out children how to solve our First World Problem without shouting and resorting to anger.

Since opening night, the exhibition opening hours have been extended slightly, and warnings about queue closures popped onto Twitter.