Key Roles: Steward

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Location: Truro

Date: November 2014

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City of Lights is an annual event taking place in November. It is run by a small Community Interest Company, with a group of Trustees who each year give their time and energy to secure funds, create, plan and deliver the event. The event takes the form of a parade of lanterns made by Schools, Colleges and University's from the surrounding areas. There are also performances from dance groups, samba bands and marching bands. It is a magnificent and beautiful display. 30,000 people attend the event, which is held around the town of Truro. A huge amount of preparation and crowd control is needed for an event of this magnitude.

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Before the event, those who had been recruited as stewards attended a two day fire safety training course. This was essential as the smaller lanterns were all lit with real candles. On the night my main responsibility was to walk with one of the large lanterns, making sure that the people manoeuvring it kept on the right route in addition to ensuring the public stayed behind the barriers. All the stewards had radios, which were used to inform the head manager the whereabouts of the parade as well as any issues, such as lanterns catching fire.

 

There were a couple of incidents with smaller lanterns setting alight, putting the whole teams fire safety skills into use. I was also able to learn essential crowd control skills, which are imperative when at an event of this magnitude.

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Transferable Skills; Crowd Control, Fire Safety, Verbal Communication

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Photo Credit: City Of Lights; http://www.cityoflights.org.uk/gallery/4582463978

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