On June 1st 2024, Alliance provided Security & Stewarding services to Summer Social for the third year!
With several of our team coming from and participating in the incredible selection of sports, fitness and activities that Loughborough University has to offer, it was only natural that we’d enjoy working at the 2024 Summer Social event in Richmond’s athletic ground and old deer park that holds host to male and female rugby 7’s tournaments, netball tournaments, throwdown (CrossFit) team tournaments and the F45 play-offs.
Alongside an excellent sporting event, Summer Social also offers a festival area with some of London’s best upcoming DJ’s and entertainment, has several sponsors present such as C4 Energy, Jubel, F45 & Arrowtown. As well as offering a great selection of food and drinks vendors to choose from.
The venue spans across Richmond athletic ground and the old deer park and hosts up to 8,000 attendees between sports teams, competitors and spectators.
Our services consisted of:
Head of security, security manager, security supervisors, SIA & Steward provision
Security management
Security control
Entrance search lanes
Patrol teams
Response teams
Static Guards
Fire Exit coverage
Crowd management
Egress crowd management
Key achievements and challenges:
Access Control
Support to medical teams
Egress Management
Access Control:
Due to the nature of the event, a sports, lifestyle and fitness-based festival, there are dynamic changes to access to certain areas of the site.
As Summer Social moves from its sports focused beginning to the festival conclusion of the day within a purpose-built arena area – it was imperative that some of the key equipment and structures used for competitors during the day were secure and free from unauthorised entry or use.
This meant ensuring that the F45 two story staging, the CrossFit rigging, matts and high ropes in the arena, as well as the netball courts in the old deer park all remained secure and safe – utilising static guards and patrol teams to ensure that all the above remained closed to attendees as we moved into the festival end of the day. Alongside the safety and production team we organised a sweep of the event site and encouraged people to enter the arena to enjoy the music, entertainment and vendors on offer whilst ensuring we were approachable and communicative.
Egress Management:
With 8,000 attendees, a long day of sports competitions and a festival conclusion to the day, managing egress was crucial to ensure that everyone left safely. As the time came for people to leave, we manned key positions along the roadside and on the egress route from the arena, ensuring that there was no unauthorised access to certain areas on the way out of the Richmond athletic ground and old deer park and that we communicated vocally and effectively to try to retain footfall on the exterior pavements and helped attendees maintain use of official crossing points on the road way.
Conclusion:
We had a fantastic time working alongside our clients at The Fair again and providing our services at the Summer Social 2024 event. Working alongside such a dedicated and passionate team was a privilege, and we are proud to have contributed to the safety and success of this wonderful occasion in the capitals summer sun. We’re glad to be a part of such a dynamic event that breaks the mould on a ‘standard’ festival layout and we look forward to future collaborations of the sports, fitness and lifestyle industry within festivals and events that will flourish just as this one has.
