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Originally Posted by Cvrt0_0
...having done this activity at Onslow and being a CI with the Air Training Corp I've done my fair share of car parking / stewarding at events (most unpaid by the way) and it really is not an easy job. It is frustrating, hair pulling and sometimes downright dangerous stuff that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy....
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Whilst I don't for one minute assume those on the ground get paid, I would think that the cadet organisation would receive financial recompense for providing their services.
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Above it all they are just doing what the organiser has told them to do and I've seen some strange sights. Like the year the organisers placed a large blue biffa bin in the path of the engines coming from the arena to make them divert round a particularly soft patch and left a group of cadets to 'guard' it. That went down really well with engine men and public a like. How to look like an pillock in one easy lesson.
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Understandable, and a good reason why I wouldn't want such a task. Most exhibitors (steam or anything else) can be quite reasonable if it's explained to them what the issue is (ie. very soft spot). The problem is that requires those 'on guard' to approach the engines and explain that it's soft ahead - not necessarily something everyone is confident doing, and when on an engine trying to negotiate already soft ground stopping for a conversation is the last thing they'll want to do as they might then be stuck and unable to start again - seeing an easily moveable bin in the way with some apparently unhelpful cadets standing by it talking amongst themselves rather than moving it can be seen as annoying when the full situation is unknown.
I'm not convinced the cadets age group are the most confident at approaching complete strangers and asking them to move, and it certainly isn't all who bark orders around - it's just unfortunate that the few who do stand out for the wrong reasons tend to tarnish the majority who don't. That's the same whether the marshalls are cadets or adult volunteers.
Personally I think it much more effective if marshalls alert visitors to the presence of approaching vehicles they might not be aware of, rather than demand they either move out of the way, or issue orders 'not to cross'. People cross the road every day and don't need high-viz stewards standing at the curb telling them want to do. On a rally field the road way isn't defined, so marshalls marking the route and asking visitors to be careful whilst crossing is fair enough - but stewards demanding people don't try to get from one side of a slowly crawling and frequently stopping line of vehicles to another is just insulting to the visitors - it's no wonder people can get irritated and annoyed with the marshalls.
The marshalls don't necessarily have an easy time either, especially around the steam section when some teenager has been told to 'stand there and keep people back', but they might not have actually been told to stand in a very useful place, and don't necessarily know what the steamers are trying to do. The marshalls don't necessarily know where each steamer is heading to get back to their peg, or how the owner is going to try and achieve that in the space available - eg. it might be easier to reverse an engine some of the way to avoid very tight corners, and shunting around the portables that have been towed behind engines isn't quick and simple either.
For all the complaints, the organisers and marshalls manage to cram an awful lot of exhibits in the space available and DO manage to get one chuff of a lot of engines both into and out of the arena for the main parade in a fairly organised fashion - how total gridlock is avoided with amost every square inch of grass in the arena covered by engines is a minor miracle each year!
27th August 2014, 10:41 AM
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