kerry davies

And then ......

I was reluctant to respond to this but now that Paul has been expansive I can be succinct. You are at a school for performing arts where they get paid to teach you this stuff so get them to do just that. I am not being nasty, just once taught your predecessors at Filton with a lot less facilities than you now enjoy. The more we tell you, the more your tutors will curse us.

Just checked and thank heavens I did. The kids set my phone up so that before opening settings I had to update 15 apps (what's an app?) but I discovered that they had not set me up for meteor warnings but had for earthquakes. Doh? I can't wait for this test now that I have turned off all "location" on the machine. Will it won't it go off alarming? In Sweden in the 70's those sirens were a nuclear attack warning and when they were tested it caused a national plague of merriment. It was something like a two minute warning with an all clear sounding after three minutes by which time of course..... Oh and my nearest McDonalds is either 20 miles downwind in another country or the other side of a mountain range. Do your worst, meteors.

Hmmmm? This help? If there is anything worthy of an alert here in Mid Wales 20 metres above the river and 96 metres above the sea I am fairly sure I don't wish to know there is a meteorite on it's way. E2A, yes they are UK wide.

I am pretty sure we were highly irregular but the only times I ever got peripherally involved in hiring kit for overseas companies visiting UK we hired it and paid the VAT then reclaimed it as normal. Costs were then deducted from their fees etc. IIRC the supplier of an Olympic standard trampoline wouldn't even accept the order from the visiting troupe. A PM to ImagineerTom would be almost certain to get specific answers but your accountant may have a handle on "place of supply" rules which, like everything, have all got a lot more fiddly since Brexit.

Ah the joys of Thatcherite privatisation. My amazing phone broadband service is "fibre to the cabinet" which in our rural area is on the wall outside the telephone exchange. As an ex-BT/POEU guy my fury at the government blocking the "glassing of the UK" because of cost and then flogging off BT at a loss greater than that cost hasn't diminished much. https://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/how-the-uk-lost-the-broadband-race-in-1990-1224784

And me I would go full hi-tech assault and use some baler twine and a very pretty little bow. Either that or the legendary small boy stuffed under the riser handing it out when you hit him with the conveniently placed cudgel. I rather think this is a classic case of "overthinking" and a little simplicity might go a long way.

Forkbeard Fantasy had a show called "The Brittonioni Brothers - Experiments in Contra-Projection." There were two columns of Carousel projectors and a screen that actors appeared to walk into, out of and through. There are still creatives who could make use of them from performance art to rave decor.

In the case you mention that camera is a load so anything supporting it is an attachment used to support it. Nothing to do with your original question but using one inch insulating tape really carefully applied can lift a one tonne load with as little as three full turns. So 3 kg is not a big load and with appropriate safety chains and suitably large cable ties ties they might be judged adequate in some circumstances. I wouldn't ever recommend their use but neither would I condemn them outright in every circumstance.

Don't thank us, add to the knowledge bank by returning to tell us what did or didn't work.

I wasn't thinking back projection would be needed just for an effect. A diagonal front projection with suitable performer blocking is all that is needed. Flames are flames and keystoning is less relevant than pictorial or geometric images. A screen at 60 degrees SL or SR allows plenty of throw distance and image projection doesn't always have to be directly facing the auditorium. This may be a case for literally thinking laterally. (Sorry, couldn't resist it.)

If you watch at about 22 secs you can see it is a projection which shows up on the character. The torch, if it needs to be seen can be found searching for "Fake Flame Torch".

Get Brian's book but even when you have all the books, pdfs and calculators you still have to use your own judgement. Just as when making Risk Assessments things like youth, inexperience, genre, activity, group cultures and much else has to be taken into consideration. There will be occasions when the numbers, calculators, books and guidance says "yes" and common sense says no. I once built a stage for bands which, at the last minute, they wanted to put 19 dancers on. "Where did you rehearse?" "In the youth centre." "Isn't that 80 feet by 30 feet? Well this stage is 16 x 20 and 2metres high not a flat floor. You are doing it on the grass." As Andylaser says 200 kids is a fair weight but might be OK when 50 is not because they want to hop in unison.

I would need to see it to make a sensible suggestion but ....... Is there enough thread protruding to allow another nut to be screwed on? If there is one of my favourite bash-it-n-bodge-it tools is a slide hammer or bearing puller and just use BF&I on them.

Haze and smoke can sometimes reduce UV effects minimally simply because they reduce vision but UV still "works" with the stuff it always does work with. The only time I ever saw a tiny bit of UV reflection off smoke was one hilarious night with a lunatic lighting man and an industrial burglar deterrent smoke machine but I couldn't even see my feet in that mess.

I have no personal experience but there are HMG guides for the temporary export of technical equipment and I would imagine that trying to explain that an expensive piece of commercial kit is "personal hand luggage" would be difficult. Trying to explain that you wanted to programme it for "an upcoming show" might make it even harder to convince them that it is "personal". Why not try a call to one of the shippers like Sound Moves or Rock-It. You might get lucky and catch someone in a good mood.

Not a clue but I would ring 01495-202000 and ask Penny and Giles down in darkest Nine Mile Point.

There is no easy answer because what the school is doing is fudging their own legal responsibility by asking you to prove your competence because they are not competent to judge. No ticket shows competence because it has no qualitative validity and does not indicate training PLUS experience PLUS knowledge PLUS relevance to the work in question. Only an experienced manager observing a worker at work can get remotely near assessing the worker's competence, demanding "tickets" is a soft-option get-out. Learning on the job is what an apprenticeship has been since long before they were formalised in 1563, don't knock it. It is the only way to turn training into experience to create competence. I can't help you out of the fix but it may help to ask the client what form of accreditation they want. Most times they haven't got a clue themselves and it is their legal duty not yours as you so rightly point out. There is one minor glitch there; Know a single school which complies? I don't.

It might be worth taking the opportunity to remind people that the Occupiers Liability Act makes it mandatory for risk assessments to be made covering visitors to the work site ... even if those visitors are trespassers. Part of any such RA, IMO, would include security measures to reduce the risk of trespass/provide a secure work site.

Stuart, Dave, since the OP has a full sized flying boat as one of many exhibits I think that the length of ramp is relatively unimportant. If one has space enough to hang a Chinook from the ceiling in just one of umpteen huge buildings over several acres the ramps can be as long as you like.

Who is building this kit for you? They would be my first port of call as they will have all the required equipment to build ramps with guards and handrails, stairs and joining links. If they really want to clinch the sale they will be glad to design it for you in my experience. The HSE website may help and more detail can be read up in the ISTRUCTE guide though it is mostly outdoor structures. This is the government guidance on access.

The best and worst bits of theatre can be working with young people. Start at Jon's Have Fun and set the ground rules immediately. Just as with any adult crew new to a space or situation there has to be some form of induction; "Do this, don't do that, go here, don't go there" etc. I found it helpful for me and them if there is also a set schedule so that "We do this, then we talk/ask questions/take suggestions/clean up" otherwise you can spend entire days answering the constant "Why" getting nothing done. I always tried to explain the reasoning behind instructions and procedures in all work, with amateurs, pros and youth but they also were made aware that sometimes "Just do it, I shall explain later" was the order of the day. Discipline is vital in any co-operative endeavour and especially with those less capable of self-discipline. Similarly safety concerns grow as youth and inexperience increase. Set the boundaries clearly, stick to them equably and know your own limitations. As Jon writes, know your escalation process. Try to relax and enjoy the experience, kids are like wild animals, they can smell fear and it scares them too.

Right again, Alister, the builders appear to have been having a moan about UKCA. Just had a look at the REUL dashboard listing all they nasty EU laws they are scrapping. They still list Jacob Rees-Mogg as Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency a post abolished back in September. I don't hold out much hope of them not making a pig's ear of it all.

I think others have answered the OP, there is no legal maximum Students are capable of all sorts of activities if the Risk Assessment takes account of inexperience, lack of maturity and level of responsibility. HSE tells me that. In construction they use restraining harnesses and tethers to prevent people getting too close to an edge which is a bit OTT for theatre but is one option. When edge marking a platform for amateurs and youngsters I found it helped to mark an "edge" a foot or so inside the actual edge and rehearse them thoroughly. I am not a fan of raised edge markers as with amateurs and youngsters they can too easily become trip hazards. Never, ever even think "get away with" on safety matters and add yet more negatives when it comes to students.