kerry davies

The council built us 4 parking bays, two of which are disabled BUT in our part of the flats there are 4 disabled drivers and two non-disabled. When I asked about her indoors and her blue badge they said "first come first served" and "there are two more bays round the corner" which is 80 metres away. Under this government it has been decided that if a claimant can "mobilise" 50 metres, even using a wheelchair, even when they do not have a wheelchair, then they lose the mobility element of their PIP. So the council say I have to park in a disabled bay so far from my door that we no longer qualify for the blue badge because we can't claim PIP and so cannot park there. I am not saying that this sort of Catch 22 prevents accessable theatre, far from it, but it shows that provision alone without total input from those provided for never works. Build your environment and systems around what the end user really needs not what you think s/he needs. NB; I actually park in the disabled minibus bay because they banned them from reversing into the road yet built the drop-kerb on the wrong side so the dolly-bus can't use the dolly-bus stop. Another SNAFU by the well-intentioned.

The top one looks like an M8 made by a firm called Film Industries of Kew Gardens Is the lower one from a tape recorder? Something tickles the synapses but memory is a funny thing at this distance. E2A just noticed where you are and West London might suggest a local "acquisition" for these two?

This might be ludicrously stupid but would it be possible to buy your technician one of those cheap, adjustable, in-ear aids and wear a muff type headset over it?

We have a riverside walk each side of the river. One is wheelchair accessable because it is on an old railway line. The other isn't and never will be because it is part of the Wye Valley Walk. "A 136 mile walk of startling contrasts from ravine gorge cloaked in woodland, through meadow and orchard, to rugged and remote uplands." Making that wheelchair accessable would destroy it's very nature whether it was affordable or not. As for those metal strips, what are they supposed to do? They won't stop a runaway chair and if an unaccompanied, visually impaired wheelchair user is heading for a subway under a major trunk road there's not a lot anyone can do about their safety. There has to be an element of common sense about health and safety and accessability. Some things we just have to accept are beyond the remit of "the reasonable man".

If moving to Cambridge then take some Local Crew work during the summer on as many different genres of event as possible; theatre, music, literature, folk and jazz festivals to see if you actually like the industry and can tolerate the conditions. I personally never planned anything even actively avoiding what I ended up doing 90% of my time. You seem reasonably sensible so go find out for yourself. Keep a low profile and soak up knowledge and experience like a sponge. The good guys will always try to make time for newbies and don't mind thoughtful questions asked at the right time. Learn to make tea and use a broom.

Span the two horizontal logs with a scaffolding pole fixed with ratchet straps over the scaffold bar and under the log then suspend off that? It is quite surprising how solid simple friction can be on poles like those. Personally I would span side to side on the beams supported by your logs.

I don't pretend to be current and this article has made me less certain but I used to take on work on a consultancy basis which covered specific time-frames and a set fee to, in one case, "provide support to community festival programme" and in another to "deliver a project on community cohesion through events". In both cases there could be no hourly rate because there were no set hours. Whether that suits what you require I don't know but "consultancy" is a wide ranging and vague concept.

I am not sure that it is either possible or desirable to create a 100% accessible theatre workspace for 100% of disabled people and am positive that risk management would be impossible. In risk you are always looking at "worst possible" and a person in a wheelchair on the grid when power goes off is about as nightmarish as it gets. You would need to build in loads of able bodied staff and loads of time in every process undertaken so I wouldn't even think of facilities until I had an in depth understanding of the wishes of the disabled people and the limitations of their disability. Yes, with enough money and technology there is a huge amount that can be achieved but it has to fit the needs. Some disabled people can achieve wondrous things but some things are too onerous or dangerous for them and those around them. Having access is a great benefit, not being able to do anything when you get there is as frustrating as not having access.

Mac has it right but long answer short, if you don't want to share it, buy it yourself. You wouldn't share show blacks or boots so you buy 'em. Disposables like foam earplugs the employer generally supplies but only in rare cases like Gridgirl's orchestra would custom moulds be supplied. Gloves fall between the stools as heavy duty battery acid gloves would be an RA item supplied and I used to supply riggers gloves but most people don't like sharing sweat so buy their own manual handling kit. Basically though if you join a production company on PAYE and they will supply what they consider necessary. Join as self-employed, you are the employer, you do the providing.

Read what Tom said again. Even without a stage or aisles or 3 metre clearances around fire exits you aren't going to get 1,000 seated audience in 540 sq metres..... safely. I am sitting here right now watching my freebie 48" TV across the 10 foot wide lounge with the curtains closed. I can't see it because of the sun and I know projections just don't result in visible images in bright sunlight in a marquee. If they think just pointing a camera at a stage full of kids will result in anything but frutration they should think again. Sound is probably best done by a conference sound company used to spoken word and delays. I think hanging clusters is unnecessary and overall my best advice is K.I.S.S. keep it to basics otherwise the budget will run away. You already need a bigger tent if it will fit and a bigger site if it won't. Oh, and thinking they can sit several dozen kids on the floor is just asking for trouble. These people do have stuff like insurance, first aid, fire safety and sanitation sorted I trust?

I am bone idle so would call Rolatrac, Supatrac and Floorbox to see if anyone had hire stocks. I used green, blue and grey but did see yellow at one Showman's show but can't remember whose it was.

I don't believe that LOLER applies per se but as LOLER is an extension of PUWER and that requires inspections, tests and record keeping it doesn't make any difference. Manfrotto's definitely are "Work Equipment."

Just to note that in some circumstances you want to "leave no trace" so even on lush green grass we used wet sand to protect from scorching. The test in a safe environment is essential when using devices new to you as you don't want to find out exactly what it does only when it is set off at rehearsals. Fire is deadly in a theatre and even more so in a school or village hall. Have a link to start you off. Take your time it goes on a bit.

Truly rural towns here work on a different time-space continuum, Brian. Last time I heard a police siren close by was 10 years ago. I pulled the van over and a copper leaped out of the passenger door of the squad car, ran up and demanded; "Have you seen the Archbishop of Canterbury? We lost him!" (I had seen him as it turned out.) We don't have crime since Laurence went straight, the fire service can't recruit retained firemen and it's quicker to drive over the mountains to A&E than wait three hours for an ambulance. We are ahead of you "urbans" in the DiY world heading your way.

It isn't that simple, try HERE. I think that if I were the AD concerned and knew this was only the armourers second job as senior I would be double and triple checking everything with her to build her confidence. Instead of which she didn't know they were about to rehearse with weapons she had checked much earlier. It can't be stressed too highly, pedantry pays where safety is involved.

The "huts" are very like the Bletchley ones but are there too few trees? The "control tower" puts me in mind of the fire college at Moreton in the Marsh. The pole training yard at Bletchley is almost a car park surrounded by huts. It could be Stone in the early days? Concrete would rot the foot of the pole and standing there waiting for it to set would be a pain.🤣 It would be nigh on impossible to cart the stuff across fields, rivers and up mountains so machine or hand dug you use what comes out of the hole. Sometimes on replacements they would take sacks of rubble and in urban sites they might use chippings topped off with tarmac. For steel and fibreglass hollow poles, used on housing estates, they might use concrete but nowhere else.

This is the rarer King version of the Simon Polecat PEU (pole erection unit) and is the only vid I can find so far showing a very brief shot of fitting a step. The modern contractors seem to erect the stick then send along a MEWP to fit the pole furniture. These two guys were probably instructors demonstrating new kit in 1965 which became standard in 66. Some still have to be dug in by hand using a rabbiting spade and post hole spoon.

I had gladly forgotten all about those things until now. The Polecat crews used to get newbies to try to put on a step with an adjustable spanner and they spent forever just trying to get them started. No good tickling them with an ordinary hammer either, it was a job for the 3 lb ball peen.

In therapy and AA they teach the relatives of people in recovery to "detach with love". You can love the students just as much from far away as you can from near and you don't get your toes stepped on. If you have told the authorities what you fear might happen, that the safety of hirers and subsequently students could be at risk and they still want to go ahead then you have to walk away. If you don't you will be enabling that risk. By "operating" I am presuming that means rigging, cabling, focusing and all the safety and competence critical areas of theatre technology and as Jivemaster says, your own safety is not worth risking. Who knows what these "external crews" might be like? They could well be brilliant. Equally they could be lethal.

I learned my lesson when I watched a young lad drive screws through a sign into 4 X 4 posts with a hammer. "And what do you think the slot in the end is for?" I asked in my most supercilious voice. "Taking them out." Quoth he.

You and I could do it Tom, but having tried once with a keen but inexperienced volunteer I suspect Stuart's clients fall into that latter category. Easy enough with one metre legs but awkward at 400/500mm. Striking a stage is a lot easier than building it in manual handling terms. The problem is that one person is taking the bulk of the weight in one hand while pressing down with the other and for longer than when de-rigging. Too easy to generate back strain and Stuart seems to be designing a system for volunteers to operate. They found a solution but they don't have enough money and we go back to an area of discussion that first brought me to BR; if you can't afford it you can't do it.

Don't tell anyone Stuart but take a look in the Alistage catalogue at the levelling screwjacks and aluminium couplers including the stage joiners that they manufacture and use them to design the bits required to support your bespoke frames using lightweight tops in ply. Ordinary scaff screwjacks are an alternative and this is just a "steal ideas" suggestion. The problem with lifting on the diagonal for the average punter is that back strain becomes far too easy if normal weight Alideck or Steeldeck is used. Even Litedeck can be awakward if it twists. The computer room flooring is OK indoors but not brilliant for height adjustment and setting up on soft surfaces. It can also be pretty expensive IIRC. The late, great John-Henri Mills solved these problems with one word; "Samoans". His rugby club was a great crew recruiter and watching one of his South African locks skipping gaily along with a Steeldeck on each arm changed my whole approach to the slide showing manual handling weight guidelines. It may well be that if they are that concerned about manual handling that they need more and/or bigger bodies.

From the sublime to the gorblimey? Eight feet is the height of my ceilings and I can touch them, you can't hang anything from that, it is way too risky and I am even more confused at playing badminton in somewhere like my living room. Can't be done. Take a step back and try to get things right but I am generally of the same opinion as Jivemaster, general purpose theatre fixtures will be more value and more use than "disco" lights. I personally like the flexibility of stands especially for community use where they might end up in a marquee on the village green or illuminating a mayoral speech outside the local school. Keep it portable. Got any photos of your village hall, that might help. E2A. I know I can come across as a miserable old scrote but in life I am very positive and well above glass half full. In work however, which to me this subject is, I was paid to seek out the worst possible scenario then prevent it. I am sure that there are solutions to your questions but I think you need to define the parameters a lot more precisely. Apologies if I seem negative.

Your best bet is going to be lighting stands and floor mounted kit. Not just because of what Ian writes but because 8 metres is serious work at height in a village hall context when it comes to focusing, maintenance etc. You may be fine with WaH but there are infinite varieties of village hall user. If the main hall is low ceiling height and the stage is 8M there must also be a serious step up where fixtures could be mounted.... or am I confused again?

It just might be worth you guys cooperating and if there is storage space setting up an "analogue graveyard." Dai Steam , whom I knew 45 years back, became famous and his legacy still reverberates around the world just by having the space to store hundreds of scrapped locomotives. I know that when our local marquee company folded there were half a dozen LX consoles and loads of fixtures disappear that were still working and could have supplied parts.