APPENDIX 40
Memorandum submitted by Big Time Events
Ltd
INTRODUCTION
It could almost seem that as soon as the country
learnt how to spell Millennium, the placement of the word as a
prefix heralded doom! The Millennium Dome became the target of
all press coverage; the Millennium Wheel refused to turn on time,
and only did so when it became known as the London Eye; the Millennium
Bridge started to sway; and even the Millennium Bug failed to
close down all computers and ground aircraft. However the exceptions
to this hoodoo were the Millennium Fairs.
This first document gives information about
these fairs not previously published as we consider it is of particular
interest to the Committee. We focus in this paper on the Fair
outside Buckingham Palace as this was a unique event and while
the Tower Bridge Fair was also most popular it did not face the
particular issues found in the Mall. The second document was written
as an introduction to the overall report on the Millennium Fairs,
and the third as the full report on the success of this enjoyable
event.
BACKGROUND
When in summer 1999 the press announced that
there would be major festivals in the centre of London the concept
of a major Central London Funfair was raised. Following research
by the organisers of the Festival, Pacesetter Associates acting
on behalf of NMEC, three major British Funfair companies were
invited to form a consortium to manage the event. These were Bob
Wilson and Sons, Managing Director William Wilson;J A Manning
and Sons International, Managing Director Joseph Manning and Irvin
Leisure Ltd, Managing Director, George Irvin. The company formed
to manage this fair was Big Time Events Ltd, and the three principals
became the Directors.
The three principals brought different skills
to the new company. All of them have a considerable knowledge
of the best equipment and operators in Britain so that they could
select the rides and staff to make the event work, but they also
have particular talents. Mr Wilson is a Showman in the best tradition.
His ability to solve problems of layout, access routes for vehicles,
and his imagination in the design of the overall look and balance
of the fair won fulsome and well deserved praise.
Mr Manning has his company organised to manage
the practical functions of the event and day to day management
to a higher standard than any other funfair in Britain. His staff
are trained in first aid, stewarding, health and safety, and functions
such as litter picking. He provided the CCTV towers, radio phones,
and was the key "trouble shooter" while the event was
open.
Mr Irvin has the highest standard of administrative
organisation and flair. He was the link between the Funfair and
the many Safety Committees considering the overall festival. He
took the needs of the overall safety plans and worked with the
other two directors on layout to ensure that these were accommodated
into the funfair design.
PLANNING
While the documents attached give a description
of many of the processes involved in deciding layout and safety
arrangements it would seem appropriate to recognise the original
imagination and drive that allowed the fair outside Buckingham
Palace to take place. It would not be unfair to report that when
the idea of the fair outside Buckingham Palace was originally
raised as an idea, the Royal Parks Agency, who manage the Mall
as part of St James Park, were initially sceptical at the very
least. The concept was faced with many problems including the
need to protect this beautiful and unique venue, and of course
issues related to crowd control and public order.
However everyone grabbed the idea with imagination
and great courage to see it through. The Metropolitan Police were
supportive, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport were keen,
and the Royal Household gave approval very quickly. Once it became
clear that the event was going to go ahead, the Royal Parks Agency
gave all practical assistance that was needed. There would be
a Funfair in the Queen's Front Garden. The press loved this idea.
We all had to make it work.
There were many difficulties in formulating
the contract for the event regarding the areas to be covered by
the indemnity, and the level of costs to be met. In the end, Big
Time Events Ltd met all the infrastructure costs and a cash limited
sum for the Royal Parks costs, the balance to be met from other
sources. Big Time Events Ltd would also be responsible for any
damage to Royal Parks property caused as a direct result of the
operation of the Fair. The contract was only signed very late
in December.
The nature of this event meant that there were
many issues that could not be settled until the very last moment.
The overall content of the fair, the number of rides, and their
siting continually varied as the Safety Plan for the entire centre
of London was constantly amended. Because the Mall is an escape
route from Trafalgar Square, the potential of 20,000 people needing
to move down the road if the Square was closed had to be accommodated,
and also there was potential for the need for the area to be used
as an escape from Parliament Square. Therefore Big Time Events
Ltd could not complete their final choices and settings until
the last moment.
Further, there was a strong desire to provide
low prices for the public, plus free attendance for groups with
special needs. Discussions were held with all parties involved
in the festival to arrange these provisions.
Amongst the agencies involved in this event
were Pacesetter Associates, the overall events organisers; NMEC,
who ran the press coverage; DCMS; Government Office for London;
Metropolitan Police; other emergency services; London Borough
of Westminster; Health and Safety Executive; and of course the
Royal Parks. All of these had legitimate issues to feed into the
process of running the fair, right through until opening. Without
their active and positive approach to solve problems the event
could not have taken place.
We failed to accommodate only one request, this
being from the NMEC Press Office on 30 December. They were organising
the grand opening by the Secretary of State, and asked if we could
swap the Carousel and Big Wheel so that the Secretary of State
could ride the Carousel at the Grand Opening in front of Trafalgar
Square. They said they had measured the space on our plan and
it fitted. We pointed out, politely I hope, that it would be easier
to move a Secretary of State from one end of the fair to the other
than it would two funfair rides. The matter dropped!
PRESENT POSITION
It has now been agreed that there will be a
Central London Festival in 2000-01, and this will include some
major fairs. It has also been agreed that one site shall be the
Mall. We hope that for this year we can begin planning immediately
and so improve on the superb quality of last year, and give the
same value for money to all the public plus improve the special
needs group attendance.
We also wish, with the knowledge of last year,
to establish a financial structure by which the Governmental Agencies
can share in the success of the venture financially as well as
in community benefit. Discussions are taking place at this time
on the future and we hope they will have settled the way ahead
by the time MPs receive this report.
If the fair is made too commercial it will take
away the low pricing structure, the family balance, the special
needs groups, and the entertaining mix of historic atrractions
with futuristic opportunities replacing them with high turnover,
high profit attractions. Safety could also be threatened. There
were no complaints at all about any aspect of last year's fair,
but thousands of reports of pleasure. Also, the safety record
of the fair was superb as shown by the reports attached (not
printed). We fully believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix
it, and that the Millennium formula should be retained.
The success of the Millennium Fairs was not
luck, it was a combination of planning with initiative in adapting
to circumstances as they developed. We trust that all the same
agencies will work together this year to build on the past. Any
change could destroy what was the only part of the Millennium
Celebrations that brought nothing but praise from public and press.
THE MILLENNIUM FUNFAIRS
This document describes the Millennium Funfairs,
a case study of the professionalism of our trade. This first page
summarises the complexity of the task faced by the operators of
the events in pre-event planning, the following four pages and
photos are our report on the success of the implementation (not
printed).
From the time that the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport announced that there would be a major London Festival
for the Millennium Evening, a key part of the plan was to hold
major funfairs in Central London. Discussions were held involving
the company chosen to organise the entire event, Pacesetter Associates;
the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain; and various individual Showmen.
Following talks, a consortium consisting of George Irvin of Irvin
Leisure Ltd, Joseph Manning of J A E Manning and Sons, and Willie
Wilson of Bob Wilson and Sons was selected to run the event and
they formed a new company, Big Time Events Ltd, to organise these
prestigious Fairs.
Two locations were identified to host the Fairs.
The first was Pottersfields, to the south of Tower Bridge, where
the Euro Car Park Site was an ideal venue. The second was St James'
Park, but it took several meetings with the Royal Parks Agency
to agree that the Mall itself would be the only area that could
hold such a Funfair. The Metropolitan Police agreed that this
could be staged within their overall emergency plans and following
this the Royal Household gave approval.
An initial measurement of the Mall showed that
a large "Street Fair" could be accommodated within the
area identified for the funfair, and visits were held by the Royal
Parks Agency and Pacesetters Associates to the traditional fair
at Oxford, so that they could see the level of planning and organisation
that always takes place for such occasions. However, there were
other considerations for the Mall, involving the overall Central
London event and the unique nature of the site.
The first was the use of the Mall as an evacuation
area from Trafalgar Square on New Year's Eve. Should the Police
need to evacuate the Square in an emergency, they have always
considered the Mall as a key route for 15-20 per cent of the numbers.
Planning of the Fair had to accommodate this need. The second
consideration was the street furniture, the trees and the ceremonial
surface of the road. When the principals of Big Time Events Ltd
looked at potential rides and attractions, these had to be laid
out so that the major features of the Mall including the road
surface would be fully protected.
Working with the Symonds Group, who had been
appointed to co-ordinate risk assessments and emergency plans
for the overall London Festival, it was agreed that the Fair should
be sited along the north side of the Mall only, leaving customer
circulation routes to the South. There would also be public walkways
behind the Fair on the footpath. Further, after every 40 metres
of rides or stalls there should be a three metre gap between the
attactions to allow the public to evacuate from the front of the
fair to the back if necessary. Also, the entire perimeter of the
park would be fenced with six foot high Heras Fencing, and every
125 metres along the front of the fair there would be emergency
gates in this fencing stewarded by the Funfair, again for emergency
evacuation. The cost of the fencing, 2.1 kilometres of this, plus
stewards, Parks Police, Parks Staff, Health and Safety operatives,
would all be met by the Fair itself.
All of these requirements were built in to the
funfair specifications, and the three principals then selected
a mix of rides and attractions that accorded with these needs.
There were 20 different layouts prepared, then each one was tested
against the overall safety needs of the London event. The following
documents were prepared by the Funfair company and approved by
the London Safety Co-ordinating bodies and the Royal Parks Agency
prior to the event.
— Risk Assessments for the entire area
as well as for each individual ride and sideshow.
— Method statements for the move on,
build up, operation and dismantling to demonstrate the protection
of the Mall.
— Emergency evacuation plans for the
Fair, for Trafalgar Square, and for St James' Park.
— Instructions to Stewards, and police
liaison documentation.
It would have been difficult to design a fair
just to meet the needs of the Royal Parks and to protect the Mall,
but with the additional safety requirements for 31 December it
was a highly complex and skilled task. The attached summary of
the actual event shows just how successfully this was achieved
(not printed).
June 2000
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