Christmas Tour feedback

Every year Market Place operates a number of Educational Tours, allowing local Primary Schools from Belfast, Exeter, Glasgow and Newcastle attend a private tour of the Christmas Markets! Here they meet the traders, learn more about their products, cultures and even get to sample some of the foods! We also provide an Educational Passport, a document we have created with plenty of fun facts about our traders and the products they offer as well as including some great activities including colouring in pages and wordsearches.

We also run Buddy Schemes which allows local people with accessibility problems attend private tours of the market during quieter periods which have been a huge hit across a number of groups in 2015.

This year the tours have been exceptionally popular and we have had some fantastic feedback!

Belfast Christmas Market
Buddy Scheme on the 18th November 2015

"I just wanted to say a very big thank-you for you and your team who made the Christmas Market accessible and enjoyable to our group. Without this valuable service our tenants who are living with dementia would not have been able to experience this festive event. It was a magical experience and something we would like to avail of again next year.

- Hemsworth Court

Thank you for organising the Market visit for us today. I would appreciate it if you could pass on thank's to Norman on behalf of the group, he did a great job in difficulty circumstances
- Henri Mohammed- of the Pensioner Group

"Just to say a very big thanks on behalf of the staff and students from Belfast Metropolitan College for the excellent tours we had this week on the market in Belfast. The students from media and journalism have to write up their experiences and these assignments form part of their final unit portfolios.

The students got some excellent material for their projects, so thanks to you Emma for booking the tours, and to you Norman for your very professional guidance as we took the students around the stalls.

Best wishes in the meantime, have a very happy Christmas and peaceful new year and we look forward to working on this assessed project again in 2016."

-Dr John Coulter, lecturer in journalism, Belfast Metropolitan College.

On behalf of our school St Patrick's Primary School, myself, my classroom assistants and my Sunshine Room pupils (Nurture Room)_Sophia, Sarah, Megan, Michael, Shane, Kieran, Pearse, Piaras, Conghale, Daniel and Conall - we would like to send A BIG THANK YOU for giving us the opportunity to visit the Continental Market and to sample the foods and cultures of other countries. The children thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and Norman was an excellent guide. He was very kind to the children and showed them the great variety of stalls. The children were delighted to see Santa in his grotto as a group and they got their photo taken with him. This was a big moment for them. Norman let them have 2 rides on the carousel too!! Once again a BIG THANK YOU for our trip to the continental market. Hopefully we will get the chance to do it next Christmas.

Best Wishes and Merry Christmas from Brenda McCorry (Nurture Teacher), my classroom assistants and my Sunshine Room pupils.

Market Manager, Jackie Casey enjoys a trip to Santa's Grotto with a Buddy Scheme Tour

Newcastle Christmas Market

Just to say that the children really enjoyed the tour of the Christmas Market. Nirmal was a great guide and really made us feel welcome. Please pass on our thanks to him. The children loved the food tasting and trying out some new languages.
- Kate and Emma of North Fawdon

"A massive thank you to all involved in organising and leading our tour! My class (and accompanying grown-ups) had a fantastic time, even though we got absolutely drenched. Everyone was so cheerful and friendly and very generous. Thak you once again and Happy Christmas!"
- Lesley Dodgson of Lemington Riverside newcastle

Glasgow Christmas Market
Thank you so much for the visit the students had to the markets today – they really enjoyed themselves, trying all the different foods. As I said, we are going to have an ‘International’ buffet instead of a Christmas buffet in a couple of weeks, and the students are keen to buy some of the things they have tasted. When we made a list of the foods they had tried, there was certainly a great variety! Many thanks again, and best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

- Mary of West College Scotland

On behalf of the adults and children of ACE, Fordbank Primary, I would like to say a huge 'Thank You' for arranging the fabulous Glasgow Christmas Market tour experience for us. Marcus and Matthew were super hosts and engaged our children with their knowledge of languages and facts about the countries as we made our way around the stalls. The stall holders were very friendly and extremely generous in the samples that we all tried.
A truly lovely way to start our Christmas build up. - Gail McAllister of ACE Fordbank Primary

Exeter Christmas Market

I just wanted to say what a fantastic tour we had of the market today in Exeter. Our tour guide Rob bent over backwards to accommodate our needs and we wanted to pass on our sincere thanks for a wonderful day. The children absolutely loved it!

Many thanks again

- Jemma Poulsom of Marpool primary school

Emma Rhodes of Emma's Soaps showing the young children what conservative behaviour she takes to save the wildlife by using natural and organic ingredients for her soaps

We have had a brilliant day Thank you! All the children loved it and enjoyed the food tasting too. The guide was brilliant.

We shall send on some photos when I've checked them out. We'll also look on your website and YouTube for your latest films. Great day out. Many thanks
- Rachel Tozer