Over the August bank holiday of 2023, our team - alongside 25,000 visitors - descended on the beautiful sleepy Cotswolds village of Kingham, to Alex James’ Farm. Big Feastival is a 3 day, family-friendly festival based around great food and great music! We were very excited to be taking on this project for the first time.
Our Services
• Consultancy including SMP.
• SIA Security, Stewarding & Supervisors
• Security Management
• Security Control
• Main gates search
• Campsite coverage
• Campsite security management
• Patrol teams
• Fire exits
• Response team
• Campsite egress crowd management
Challenges and Key Achievements:
• Temperamental weather conditions
• Dealing with families and minors
• Large ingress
• Enforcing of campsite rules
Families and Minors:
As Big Feastival is a family-orientated festival, the vast majority of ticket holders
were made up of young families. This meant a large number of minors and
potentially vulnerable individuals would be present across the weekend. This brings
various potential challenges; lost child cases and ensuring effective safeguarding
were top priorities. Equally, it was important to be mindful of the challenges of a
camping festival that involves young children- tempers can become easily frayed! We
ensured that all of our staff were fully briefed, trained and confident in dealing with effective
safeguarding protocols and had an understanding of the context of the event and
how they should adjust their communications with customers accordingly to ensure
positive interactions and happy customers!
Temperamental Weather Conditions:
As with most British bank holiday weekends, the weather was temperamental at
best. We experienced blazing sunshine followed by torrential downpours and had to
adapt quickly to each. When hot and sunny, hydration and sun protection were
essential to ensure staff welfare and during downpours, we had to ensure our staff
were kept warm and dry on position. As well as staff welfare, it was important to
bear in mind the impact of poor weather on the customers staying in the campsites,
particularly young families and supporting them wherever possible- empathy is key!
Furthermore, heavy rain and stormy weather bring the added pressure of potential
show stops in the main arena, which would directly impact campsite management
and we had to be prepared for a sudden ingress to the campsite area at any
moment. Our campsite Security Manager kept in close communication with the
control team to make sure any change in circumstance was acted upon immediately
and communicated effectively to wider staff and customers.
Enforcing of campsite rules:
We worked alongside the campsite manager to enforce the rules they had set out
before the festival. Arrival days were staggered and specific spaces were assigned to
each day. This enabled our patrol teams to keep a close eye on the spacing of tents
to ensure that fire lanes were kept clear and also to make sure that there was plenty
of space for families to set up and enjoy their time at the festival. Campsite patrols
continued throughout the weekend to maintain a presence that allowed customers
to feel safe and secure. Any disputes that arose were dealt with efficiently due to the
even coverage of patrol teams across the site.
Large ingress:
We worked alongside the campsite manager to enforce the rules they had set out
before the festival. Arrival days were staggered and specific spaces were assigned to
each day. This enabled our patrol teams to keep a close eye on the spacing of tents
to ensure that fire lanes were kept clear and also to make sure that there was plenty
of space for families to set up and enjoy their time at the festival. Campsite patrols
continued throughout the weekend to maintain a presence that allowed customers
to feel safe and secure. Any disputes that arose were dealt with efficiently due to the
even coverage of patrol teams across the site.
Conclusion:
We had a fantastic time working on Big Feastival 2023, with effective communication
across our teams from patrol to campsite manager to control, we were able to
deliver confident and safe security coverage for the residential areas of this site that
ensured a majority family-orientated customer base was kept secure and able to
enjoy their bank holiday weekend.