Memorandum by Irvin Leisure (TF 26)
Please find enclosed three submissions to the
Environment Sub-committee that we hope will be useful.
The first is a submission on VAT and the practice
of some local authorities to charge VAT on ground rental.
The second is a case study on Mile End Park
Funfair, an inner city fair in the heart of East London where
the local community have worked with the local authority, the
police and the Funfair operator to ensure that this important
local event continues, even where there have been major difficulties.
It is, in our view, an example of good practice in a traditional
local authority funfair.
The third is submitted by Big Time Events Ltd,
a company run by three major Funfair operators, George Irvin,
Joseph Manning and Willie Wilson, The company was formed initially
to manage the Millennium Fairs in the centre of London on New
Year's Eve last year and then to look at other major events in
the future. The two fairs produced for the Millennium on the Mall
and Tower Bridge were magnificent, had attendances of over 1,000,000
people and were trouble free. They are evidence of the professionalism
that can be achieved by the Country's top Showmen, and again demonstrate
best practice. The report shows that Showmen can arrange entertainment
for vast numbers, with proper pre event planning and careful implementation.
Ray Smith
For Irvin Leisure and for Big Time Events
Ltd
INVESTIGATION INTO THE ISSUES FACING FUNFAIRS
We would ask the Sub-committee to recommend
the issuing of guidelines to local authorities highlighting that
it is unnecessary to include VAT in Ground Rental Fees.
A Funfair operating in a local authority park
or open space is managed by a "Lessee"a Funfair
Management Company such as ourselves. The "Lessee" Company
will have hired the space from the local Council and will then
bring in a number of Tenants, these being owner operators of both
rides and sideshows, to make a mix for the public to enjoy. Many
of these tenants have very low annual turnovers and are therefore
below the VAT threshold.
When each ride operator and sidestall holder
charges the public they have to levy a fee that the public can
afford, and that is also a reasonable and "round figure"
such as 50p, £1 or £1.50. This allows the giving of
change to be a simple operation, and given that much business
is after dark and outside payboxes using cash bags, the prospect
of giving small change coins is unrealistic.
The "Lessee" company, having hired
the ground from the local authority, pays a fee for this. As it
is Ground Rent, it does not by law have to carry a VAT sum. There
are no services involved. Where there is no VAT charged, the "Lessee"
can charge the Tenants a rental also without VAT, again perfectly
legally. The Lessee and Tenants who are registered for VAT will
still be responsible for paying VAT to Customs and Excise for
direct income from the public, while those tenants unregistered
will not have to pay VAT at all.
If the local authority provide services, or
if they have to undertake work to enable the fair to go ahead
they can levy a separate charge which will include VAT.
However some local authorities have begun charging
VAT for the actual Ground Rental. To allow a Lessee to reclaim
this from Customs and Excise they would have to levy a VAT charge
on all Tenants, and as stated above many of these are not VAT
registered. These would suffer a significant increase in costs
which they could not pass on to the public. If the "Lessee"
does not charge the Tenants VAT, they cannot reclaim the sum from
Customs and Excise.
The sums involved are considerable. An additional
17.5 per cent is a vast sum to find where it cannot be reclaimed.
This charge makes some sites unviable and threatens many Showmen.
The Sub-committee are therefore requested to
recommend the issuing of guidelines to local authorities pointing
out that, where Ground Rental is the only matter being charged,
VAT will not be added to charges, and that any charges incurring
VAT should be made separately.
This would be of great value to the many small
operators who provide great entertainment for the public up and
down the country.
Mile End Park FunfairWorking Together
THE RECENT HISTORY OF MILE END FUNFAIR IN
EAST LONDON. A CASE STUDY OF PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN A LOCAL AUTHORITY,
THE LOCAL COMMUNITY AND SHOWMEN
Mile End Park is an important public open space
in the borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. The area has hosted
annual funfairs for over 50 years, and this report summarises
events in the past five years that demonstrate how by working
together the Council along with residents and showmen ensured
that families could continue to enjoy their fair, despite difficulties.
HISTORY OF
THE FAIR
Mile End Park is situated in the heart of the
East End of London. The open space has actually been developed
over the years by successive local Councils, and is very important
to local people. It has hosted an annual funfair since the Second
World War, and possibly back to the 1920s.
The area has changed considerably over the years,
as has all of the East End which has always been a most receptive
area for new arrivals to Britain. In recent years there has been
a significant influx of families from the Bangladeshi and Somali
communities.
In 1991, the then controlling group on the Council
initiated a policy of decentralisation, which included setting
up separate Town Halls, with complete administrations, in six
areas of the borough, of which Mile End was one. They established
a Forum in each area, at which all local residents could come
along and debate, then vote upon, key issues. The decision as
to whether funfairs could be held in local parks was one issue
delegated to these local forums.
Prior to this decentralisation, there had been
seven annual fairs in Tower Hamlets. However, the only group who
agreed to keep their Fair were the Mile End Forum, who voted to
keep the annual visit by Irvin Leisure Ltd, and that this should
be an 11 day Funfair.
The reason for this decision was that for several
years, Irvin Leisure had attended meetings of local residents
from the Estates around Mile End Park both before and during the
Funfair to discuss matters of concern to the local residents,
and to find ways in which not only could these concerns be met,
but that the Fair could add to their lives. These initiatives
included running special free afternoons for the elderly and for
people with disabilities, and also Irvin Leisure funding developments
in the park.
It was because of this good relationship that
residents in Mile End voted to keep their fair. A more formal
liaison was then established, with local residents forming a Funfair
working party to which the Police would send a representative.
LIAISON FROM
1992 TO 1997
The working party continued to operate even
after Tower Hamlets dissolved the system of Area Management in
1994. The only change was that during the period of Decentralisation,
the Forum had control over the fee paid by Irvin Leisure to the
local authority, whereas afterwards it reverted to the Council
centrally.
However, the Working Party still had a key role.
They would gather from local residents any problems being faced.
They would ensure for instance that noise was controlled by getting
residents to telephone immediately if there was any difficulty.
They would report to the police any nuisance being caused by young
people. They would also inform all elderly residents of the free
sessions that Irvin Leisure ran at the Fair, so that hundreds
of local pensioners would attend the fair during the afternoon
and enjoy the rides and refreshments free of charge.
At pre event meetings, the residents, police,
and Funfair would agree stewarding and policing arrangements to
make sure that public safety was maintained. Obviously the Police
were careful to protect the public but had to be aware of their
budgets and not "overstaff". By liaison, they could
target their resources carefully, which was of benefit to everyone.
Further, members of the Working Party would
attend the Fair unannounced and monitor the performance of the
Fair against the pre event agreements on matters such as prices,
layout, music, stewarding and site cleanliness. This was most
helpful in ensuring that everything pre agreed was carried out.
Then, within two weeks of the fair closing there would be a "debrief"
meeting at which everyone would assess the Fair, and begin planning
for the following year.
Because of this successful relationship, the
residents of Mile End in early 1997 prepared to ask Tower Hamlets
for there to be two visits by Irvin Leisure to their park each
year instead of one.
JUNE 1997
Irvin Leisure returned to Mile End Park in June
1997, and prior to the Fair the usual planning meetings had been
held, and Stewarding and Policing levels agreed. However, on the
opening day it became clear that two local gangs of youths, who
were carrying out a series of violent attacks elsewhere in the
borough, had "agreed" to use the funfair as a venue
for their violent activities. The police and funfair had to very
quickly change the entire operation.
It was agreed between them that the Fair would
close earlier than planned, at 9.00 pm instead of 10 as previously
advertised, and that the police would attend in large numbers.
This involved them in effectively circling the fair and searching
many young people at the entrance to remove weapons.
The level of potential violence cannot be overstated.
Weapons found included machetes, baseball bats, screwdrivers and
knives. These were, according to the police, the "normal"
weapons of these gangs. Whilst the action of the police prevented
any problems actually within the Fair, the local estates suffered
badly because these gangs ran around the houses fighting each
other and vandalising the area.
Clearly this level of policing would be totally
unsustainable in future years, and despite the popularity of the
regular sessions for the elderly and people with disabilities,
and despite the surprisingly large attendance by local families
at the Fair, the entire future of this event was understandably
called into question by the Council.
THE AFTERMATH
OF JUNE
1997
At the regular debrief, the Working Party, Police
and Irvin Leisure recognised that the events of June 1997 could
not be allowed to be repeated. It was agreed that there should
be a gap before Tower Hamlets would be asked to agree the Funfair
in 1998. During this period, residents' representatives would
discuss with their neighbours their views, the police would assess
what had happened, and Irvin Leisure would consider the management
system and stewarding used.
Everyone agreed that the incidents at the Fair
could not have been anticipated. The Fair had operated for years
without any difficulties, and the Police had not anticipated that
these gangs would use the Fair for their criminal purposes. Nevertheless,
residents' lives had been disrupted, and the police had used major
resources during the 11-day visit.
In Spring 1998 Irvin Leisure attended the annual
Community and Residents Group Meeting in Mile End. All local Tenants
and other groups could attend this. Irvin's expected considerable
opposition to the idea of the Funfair taking place, and so did
the local police who also attended.
However, after a brief discussion of the occurrences
in 1997 the meeting was astonishingly unanimous in wishing to
see the fair return in 1998. Everyone present, including the pensioners,
family groups, representatives from the religious institutions,
stated adamantly that "their" fair should not be stopped
because of the actions of some criminals. They wanted practical
measures introduced that would allow the fair to take place, in
safety.
Irvin Leisure representatives were surprised
and delighted with this. Together with the local authority and
the Police there were discussions on this, and the simple measure
of moving the fair 300 metres from the traditionally used site
to another part of the park solved the problems. This placed the
Funfair next to Mile End Stadium, so that the floodlights would
give additional lighting to the Fairground. Also, slopes naturally
screened the entrances to this area, so that entrances were restricted.
There was no means to leave the fair directly into housing estates,
so that people running from the fair would have a considerable
distance before they could hide from view. There was only one
problem. There was a block of flats in the middle of the park,
close to the site for the fair. It would be necessary for Irvin
Leisure to ensure that these families would not be disturbed.
THE FAIR
IN 1998 AND
1999
The Fair relocated to this new venue, within
view of the traditional site. Great care was taken to involve
the families from the block of flats in planning, and meetings
were held with them. All of them were from the Bangladeshi Community,
and so some of the younger members of the families interpreted
for Irvin Leisure. Many of the young people actually took jobs
with the fair, working on stalls and side-shows where their linguistic
skills were useful. They possibly learned new expressions in English
during this, but frankly they could probably have taught the funfair
staff suitably strong phrases in English as well as Bengali!
For the past two years the fair has been held
on this site, and has been a great success. The relationship with
the families has been so good that many of the families cook food
for the Funfair staff to sample, and in 1999 made the special
Stewards' Armbands requested by the police.
The policing and stewarding of the fair has
been improved, and the new site has been most successful for everyone.
THE YEAR
2000 AND THE
FUTURE
There is only one problem regarding Mile End
Park Funfair in the year 2000. The park is subject to a major
redevelopment programme, and even the Flats in the Park have been
demolished. Therefore this year the present site is not available,
and at time of writing this summary the question of the location
for the Fair has not been finalised. However it is certain that
the residents will want the Fair back, and that the local authority
will work very hard to ensure it can take place. After all the
effort that has been put in to making this event work, a small
matter such as park redevelopment cannot be allowed to stop a
tradition dating back 50 years. The model liaison that has been
built up is too important for this.
We believe that the imagination and positive
attitude of Officers and Councillors from the London Borough of
Tower Hamlets over the years has been a model that other authorities
could well follow, as they have met the desires of their residents
at a time when it may have been easier to simply cancel the Funfair.
We greatly appreciate their work, thank them for this, and look
forward to a future of working together.
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.
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
areas 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 to 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
attractions 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, operaton 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.
LONDON BIG
TIME FESTIVAL
FUNFAIRS
This report gives a summary of the success of
the two Millennium Bank Holiday weekend funfairs in Central London
from 31 December to 3 January, including the events on The Mall
and Pottersfields (Tower Bridge). The report is split into six
sections, those being Preparation and Set Up; New Year's Eve;
Bank Holiday Weekend; Site Clearance; Disappointments and Successes;
and Conclusions.
At time of writing the final invoice from The
Royal Parks Agency has not been received and therefore the assessment
under "Site Clearance" is based on the verbal comments
made by Royal Parks officers at that time.
Preparation and Set Up
In accordance with the pre agreed arrangements,
the Royal Parks Agency contracted Mr Ian Baker from the Symonds
Group to act as their Safety Representative throughout the period
of preparation, operation and dismantling of the Funfair. His
responsibility was to ensure public safety as well as oversee
the obligations of the Agency in this regard. In addition, the
Park Manager Mr Dennis Clarke and his assistants would remain
on duty throughout the funfair to monitor the operation of the
fair in accordance with the contractual agreement, and the Royal
Parks Police patrolled the site to maintain public order. Therefore
both the public and the Royal Parks were fully protected. For
Pottersfields, the Symonds Group acted as Safety advisers for
the Big Time Festival organisers and the Metropolitan Police were
responsible for Public Order. The Health and Safety Executive
visited both venues on 30 December for full checks on layout and
Y2K compliance.
There had been considerable pre event planning,
particularly for the Funfair on The Mall. This included laying
out the rides to include escape routes and anticipated customer
flow patterns. However right up to the pull on of the vehicles
the principals of Big Time Events Ltd were making adjustments
and at the time the site was actually marked out on 28 December
it was agreed to reduce the number of children's rides and hooplas
in the centre of the fair to increase spacing between stalls.
It was also decided to remove the Ticket Booths as they would
also interfere with customer flow.
Funfair rides were moved on to Pottersfields
on 27 December and build up took place on 28 December. This allowed
the key personnel from Big Time Events Ltd to concentrate on The
Mall on 29 and 30 December. The Fire Brigade visited Pottersfields
on 28 December and requested some minor alterations to the stall
layout in the centre of the Fair to allow them better access for
emergency vehicles. This was immediately actioned to the Brigade's
satisfaction.
Fencing was constructed on 28 December in the
key areas of St James Park, and in particular around the Funfair
site on The Mall. Additional fencing was installed on 29, and
the portable toilets were installed on 30 December. Unfortunately
the excessively wet condition of the park prevented us from siting
these at the original location as they would have to have been
towed across a large expanse of grass. However an alternative
site was found within St James' Park opposite the existing Men's
facilities, and the fencing line adjusted accordingly. Chemical
toilets had to be used because of the lack of drainage in the
park for mains toilets. This was unfortunate as they are not ideal.
The main funfair pull on to The Mall commenced
at 5 am and ran through until noon. It was smooth and controlled
with no difficulties and the build up commenced. It had been intended
to rope off the area to prevent the public from gaining access,
but this was not possible and staff worked, in line with normal
procedures, with public around them. They paid care and attention
to safety and there were no problems at all once the Parks Manager
had trimmed back a tree to give more space for the Bungee. By
2 pm on 30 December the rides were sufficiently built up to allow
the Health and Safety Executive to visit both Pottersfields and
The Mall to check on layouts, comparing both to "Best Practice"
guidelines and also to pre submitted plans. They also checked
Y2K compliance, and confirmed that the list of operators had good
working records. After their visit, the Park's Safety Representative
checked Test Certificates and Insurance details. These checks
were completed on the morning of the 31 prior to opening and all
rides and sideshows were accepted as ready to operate.
New Year's Eve
After receiving confirmation that the Safety
Certification, Risk Assessments and Insurance particulars were
in proper order, the Funfairs at both Pottersfields and The Mall
were ready to open following the 11 am launch ceremonies at both
sites. Much to the surprise of all concerned, The Mall was very
busy from the first moment. In fact, it has been estimated that
over 20,000 people had visited the site before 12 noon, and all
rides and attractions were busy from the first moment.
At Pottersfields the crowds did not start to
arrive until 5 pm, but the Fair was busy from then until the close
at 2 am. At the peak in Pottersfields there were perhaps 10,000
people on the fairground.
In The Mall, the Police established a liaison
system where they placed one or two officers with the Funfair
Head of Security. In this way the Fairground were made aware of
any police concerns, and the police kept in contact with the information
received from Fairground Stewards. This system was so successful
it was kept throughout the four days, and will be recommended
as good practice at all future major funfairs.
It is a mark of the success of all the pre planning
that there are no incidents of note to report from the day, despite
the vast numbers who visited The Mall. Estimates have been given
that over one million people passed down the road between 11 am
and 2 am. The only accidents to members of the public were one
young girl who slipped and grazed her head on a sideshow, and
a late night reveller who tried to hit the electronic punchball
but missed and hit the side panel.
The large numbers caused minor equipment difficulties.
The Carousel was damaged at around 9 pm and had to be closed for
the rest of the night. No member of the public was affected, and
safety barriers were put in place. Repairs were carried out the
following morning, a full independent inspection carried out at
12 noon and the Parks Safety Officer cleared the ride to open
at 1 pm 1 on January. Perhaps the ride, built in 1884, having
already seen in one new century working on New Year's Eve 1899
wanted the night off. The Reverse Bungee closed at 11.30 pm when
it needed rope changes (as required after its quota of jumps is
completed) and the operator decided that it would be safer to
close for the night and undertake the work in the morning.
The two major problems on 31 December were litter
clearance and toilets. The vast numbers of people in the area
made it impossible to keep the Fairground site clear of rubbish,
and so priority was given to clearing glass bottles. When the
Fairground skips were full, we built "cages" at the
rear of the site for storing bags. These were cleared from 3 am
after the fair closed until 12 noon the following day when the
fair reopened. The queues for the toilets were long, but people
waited patiently and it is probable that no matter how many toilets
had been provided they could not have coped with the vast numbers
of people in London that night.
The funfair turned all music off at 11.45 pm
and did not put it back on until 12.15 am after the firework display.
The majority of people moved to the Trafalgar Square end of the
site to watch the Fireworks, but from 12.15 am until 2 am the
Fair was busy again. It must be noted that the behaviour of the
crowds was impeccable, even those who had clearly been drinking
to excess were happy and not at all violent or anti social. The
police were superb and their attitude to the public helped keep
the atmosphere relaxed. To our knowledge, apart from one group
of pickpockets and a number of youths who had been chased by police
from Parliament Square into the rear of the fair, there were no
arrests or crimes reported.
The fair switched off all music at 1.45 am and
all rides and attractions closed by 2 am. The foodstalls had some
difficulties in clearing queues but the site was empty by 2.15
am when the litter clearance began in full. As stated above, on
that night priority was given to clearing glass from the site.
Pottersfields was similar, in that from 11.30
pm the crowds had moved from the Fair on to the walkways and Embankment,
and then returned at 12.15 am. The site had thinned by 1.30 am
and completely closing by 2 am was easier than on The Mall. The
site clean up was, however, not helped by the rubbish deposited
on the grass open space being walked down to the Fairground. Again
the focus was on glass and bottles.
The Bank Holiday Weekend
The Fairs reopened at 12 noon on 1 January.
A Special Needs Group had been invited to The Mall and were given
"Arm Bands" that granted them free rides all day. The
Mall Funfair was again busy from opening, and this lasted through
until perhaps 7 pm when the numbers reduced. By 11 pm there were
still a reasonable number of people on site. Pottersfields was
quiet until 2 pm but was busy through until closing. There was
a similar customer flow pattern on 2 January, but on Monday 3
the rain significantly reduced the numbers visiting The Mall,
and the attendance at Pottersfields was very low.
A high priority was given to litter clearance
and by 4 pm the bulk of the rubbish from the previous day had
been bagged and removed to the rear of the site awaiting collection.
From then until the closing of the fair on 3 January the litter
was kept under control on both sites.
Unfortunately the temporary toilets in St James
Park were over full and had to be closed on 1 January: Therefore
when the Parks toilets were closed at 10 pm there were no facilities
in the park for the last two hours. The temporary toilets were
serviced on 2 January and from that time to the closing of the
fair on 3 January there was more than adequate provision for the
number of visitors.
There was one accident on a ride on 1 January
when a six year old girl, accompanied by her grandfather, slipped
in a Funhouse and injured her leg. An ambulance was called and
the Parks Safety Officer inspected the attraction and was satisfied
that it was an unavoidable accident not caused either by the ride
or by the method of operation. Full insurance details were given
to the victim's family and this has been reported to the Health
and Safety Executive.
The police/funfair liaison system continued.
St John's Ambulance attended the fair during the day, and throughout
the rest of the stay. There were no problems with the rides from
1 to 3 January in either site and everything was smooth and properly
operated. There were no notifiable accidents or any other incidents
on 2 or 3 January, and with the police liaison working well the
stay was a considerable success.
On 2 January the Special Needs Groups who arrived
for the 10 am to 12 noon session were given Armbands and allowed
to stay as long as they wanted. Because of both tiredness of staff
and the need to carry out servicing we did not in fact open for
them until 11 am but because they were given the additional opportunity
to stay all day they were more than happy. On 3 January we operated
a similar system. There were a large group of pensioners who were
initially given tea and light refreshments. Unfortunately it rained
very hard, and many of them went home early without getting full
value for their visit, and this is a shame. However we know that
many of them did stay for some time as one 80 year old woman was
found in the St John's Ambulance having grazed her knee on the
Dodgems at 2.30 pm, sitting drinking more free tea!
The numbers attending on 31 December were assessed
at one million visitors to The Mall, and an additional 500,000
over the next three days. Clearly these were not all users of
the Fair but they all enjoyed the lights, music and friendly atmosphere.
Pottersfields was well attended on 31 December, 1 and 2 January,
but the wet weather on 3 January meant it was virtually empty
all day. However for January, this was far better weather than
we could have anticipated.
Site Clearance
After the fair closed at 8 pm, the site was
cleared of customers by 8.30 pm and the dismantling commenced
and took place in complete safety. All funfair vehicles had left
the site by 4 am and the area had already been sufficiently clear
to allow road sweeping to start at 2 am. The full site inspection
took place at 8.30 am, later than planned because of the dark
skies, but apart from the need to wash The Mall and some additional
litter picking because of the large numbers of visitors, there
was no work required in St James' Park and parks officers were
satisfied that there was no damage in the park caused by the Fair.
This was most satisfactory for everyone. The Mall reopened at
1 pm on 4 January, only one hour later than anticipated, this
due to the road washing taking longer than planned. Pottersfields
had been fully cleared by 7 am as previously agreed.
DISAPPOINTMENTS AND
SUCCESSES
Disappointments
The toilets were inadequate to cope with the
crowds on 31 December. Further, from 10 pm until midnight on 1
January no toilets were available in the Park.
Reason: At the build up, no suitable mains drainage
was located to take water based temporary toilets and chemical
units were brought in at the last minute. It was not possible
to arrange a service call on 1 January, and therefore they were
over full and could not be used that day. The parks toilets were
locked at 10 pm. However this was rectified by 2 January and there
were no further problems.
Solution: Locate mains drainage in suitable
position. Provide additional units for 31 December only perhaps
by Horseguards Parade, to be removed on 1 January.
The Special Groups could not enjoy the fair
from 10 am until 12 noon for exclusive sessions. The pensioners
group on 3 January may have been disappointed because of the poor
weather.
Reason: The Fair had been much busier than anticipated
on the evening sessions and restocking, repairs and staff recuperation
took longer than anticipated in the mornings.
Solution: We actually did allow the special
groups to stay after 12 noon for free use of the rides, and apart
from on 3 January when wet weather spoiled everything, and this
cannot be helped, they were all happy. In future, special groups
should be accommodated within the family sessions, for the first
four hours of opening, using identifying arm bands. Then they
will get full benefit and will arrive at a time when the fair
is in full operation.
The Carousel and Reverse Bungee closed early
on 31 December.
Reason: Damage to the Carousel, Bungee needed
Rope Changes, both due to overdemand on 31st.
Solution: To take action as this year. No repairs
can be carried out late at night under these circumstances. Public
safety is the first priority.
The Senior Police Officer in charge on 31st
from 8 pm sought to change the Safety evacuation procedure.
Reason: He was not convinced that the evacuation
of the Mall could be achieved in the time stated. He therefore
changed the staffing and stewarding systems in operation by re-allocating
some police officers. It initially caused confusion at the time.
Solution: Police to involve the officer who
will be on duty on 31 December in planning meetings prior to event
so that his legitimate concerns can be addressed at planning stage.
Successes
That the event took place; that over 1.5 million
people visited the fair on The Mall alone and had a first class
time; that the pricing structure was well received; that the park
was left in first class condition; that there were no problems,
and in particular that those who had been drinking heavily were
well behaved on 31 December; that the press gave considerable
positive coverage to both funfairs and are already calling for
a repeat this year; and that the liaison between Police, Parks
Officers and Funfair key contacts was first class.
Reason: The professional attitude of all involved
with pre event planning; the Royal Parks Police; Royal Parks Officers;
and all those involved with the Funfair. It was to achieve this
level of professionalism that Big Time Events Ltd was formed.
Conclusions
There is no doubt that the two Funfairs, at
Pottersfields and on The Mall, were highly popular and successful.
They took place with no problems, leaving the venues in first
class condition when they left. The public and press loved them,
and the format established could be used in future Central London
Festivals. This section of the Big Time Event was even better
than anyone could have hoped, and all the planning and effort
was worthwhile. We hope it will be repeated.
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