The "Hiking Hardy" event in Castle Park on Thursday 29 April is shaping up. Not only do we have a celebrity speaker, we have a venue confirmed, and a RISK ASSESSMENT. Quite rightly, we have to consider carefully what we have planned, and what could go wrong, so this is not a "elf and safetee gone mad" rant.Alan will meet us all at the Bandstand in Castle Park, please be there for 12:30. Alan may be familiar to some of you, as he is a regular speaker at local clubs and societies. But "Hiking Hardy" is a bit different to his more usual format. With his evening shows, he chats to his audience, with a backdrop of his super collection of slides. (Yes, he does "magic lantern", he shines a powerful light through a piece of transparent film; he hasn't yet gone digital.) In Castle Park it will be different. Last week I asked him about what he had planned, to help me with the risk assessment. He replied:
"Demonstration of use of crampons for climbing up and over the band stand roof and sharp pointed ice axe to arrest slip down far side, followed by a climb of the north face of the Castle and abseiling down using the sacred tree as an anchor. And finally opening the Middle Mill Sluice Gates to create a torrent to demonstrate the art of river crossings. And if I can find a friendly farmer to erect an electric fence ... Enough to go on?"
I think ???? he's joking????? My risk assessement was "public disorder" and "people tripping over", bascially things that can happen anytime, anywhere. The question is, will we need crowd control, as it's a free event and no booking procedures? We have capacity for thousands. Alan is walking to our event, as part of his training for a backpacking trip, coast to coast across the Scottish Highlands in May. I look forward to hearing his tales.
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