MADNESS AND LOVE IN EAST LONDON - AP SECURITY GETS THAT FESTIVAL FEELING AGAIN
Having enjoyed sold-out events for four years running in London’s Finsbury Park, Madstock - the festival featuring self-styled ‘nutty boys’ Madness - disappeared for over a decade. But in July 2009 it enjoyed a triumphant return at a new venue, Victoria Park. And with AP Security in charge of crowd management and stewarding at it and the ensuing Lovebox weekend, both were an unqualified success.
AP was in charge of safety and stewarding throughout entire site for both events. The site featured three stages with a ‘Golden Circle’ in front of the main stage for Madstock and two stages (but no Golden Circle) for Lovebox. Both also featured the usual array of concessions stands, alternative entertainment and sponsored areas.
“The planning started, as usual, many months in advance,” says Chris Hollands, AP’s Southern Operations Manager, who managed the planning and operation at the events.
“There is always a great deal of liaison with the relevant bodies - licensing authority, festival organisers and police. We draw up comprehensive crowd management plans and also did a number of site visits because, although we regularly work at Victoria Park and have done Lovebox for several years, this was the first time that Madstock had taken place there.
“The key, as always, was to ensure we had the right people in the right places, ensuring everyone was fully briefed, emergency procedures in place and being able to quickly and effectively re-deploy staff as required.”
One of the challenges facing AP was that the two events featured distinctly different audiences. Madstock was a more ‘laddish’, drinking-orientated crowd which was there specifically to see their ‘nutty boy’ heroes, whereas Lovebox had a wider demographic of people who were there more for the overall festival experience. The Golden Circle at Madstock also meant that resources had to be carefully managed.
“The Golden Circle presented a bit of a test because Madness fans are very passionate and, of course, everyone wanted to get in there,” says Chris. “Ensuring that only the right passholders from an enthusiastic crowd were allowed entry meant we had to place considerable resources there.
“In addition, it was clearly stated when people bought tickets for the event that children were not allowed entry to the Golden Circle for safety reasons, but some people had still bought tickets for that area for youngsters. So our staff had to gently, but firmly, explain to them that children weren’t allowed in there.”
As Madstock took place on a Friday, a significant proportion of the audience entered the site between 4pm and 8pm, coming straight from their places of work. This meant that Chris had to be able to provide more staff at the entrance between these times, but then rapidly and efficiently redeploy them once that period was over, and then concentrate a larger proportion of staff at the exits once the festival had finished.
“Efficient redeployment, plus strength and depth in the response teams were key requirements,” he says. “We were prepared for anything, but it was a brilliant atmosphere and both events were a great success.
“Of course it helps that we have long-term partnerships with the police, council and the Lovebox team, but you can never take anything for granted. Having a new event in Madstock was a challenge for us, but both went very well and everyone was really happy with what we did.”
“The event was attended by over 60,000 people and presented a number of challenges in delivering a safe environment for all those attending,” adds A/I Andy Fittes, Metropolitan Police event planning officer.
“AP relieves a lot of the burden from the police by being proactive in dealing with issues as they arise. Minor incidents are quickly dealt with and, more often than not, do not require police to attend. All too often police are required to provide the first line of safety provision for events, but this is not the case with AP.
“The company has some outstanding senior managers, but stewards at all levels were well briefed and enthusiastic to help the police, being very good at passing information which they considered may be useful. As a result the weekend passed with no major incidents and it was the actions of all AP’s staff which helped to deliver that.”
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