Bolton Museums Quality Assured

Bolton Museum, Art Gallery & Aquarium and Hall i’ th’ Wood Museum can now officially prove how good they are after both recently received a national stamp of quality.

The two venues have been awarded VAQAS (Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme) status, which is a quality assessment service organised by VisitBritain, the UK’s official tourism organisation.

The scheme has been in operation nationally since 2001 and over 500 visitor attractions are assessed each year, from zoos and farms to historic houses and cathedrals.

An annual visit takes place by a quality assured assessor who assesses each attraction on its own merits using objective quality benchmarks provided by the tourism industry. All areas that impact on the quality of the visitor experience are included in the assessment, ranging from the enquiry through to departure.

This is followed by a one-to-one debrief between the assessor and venue management and then an official assessment report. If an attraction is successful it is then accredited as a Quality Assured Visitor Attraction.

Comments from the official assessment reports included:

Bolton Museum

•    ‘The entrance is bright and cheerful’
•    ‘There was excellent provision for children to have hands-on experiences, and to paint and draw’
•    ‘there is a great wealth of material within BMAGA’

Hall I’ th’ Wood Museum

•    ‘HITW is a remarkable survival of a Tudor half timbered building’
•    ‘What is there is well done, well kept and well cared for’

For more information telephone 01204 33221