Royal Wootton Bassett Ceremonial Appreciation

The Brief

Wootton Bassett has recently become renowned for its reaction to military repatriation funeral processions, which regularly passed through the town. On 16 March 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that while “from September, military repatriations will no longer pass through the town of Wootton Bassett”, “Her Majesty has agreed to confer the title ‘Royal’ upon the town, as an enduring symbol of the nation’s admiration and gratitude”. The addition to the town’s name was enacted through Letters Patent and became effective later on 16th October 2011.

For this reason the town council were looking to hold a Ceremonial Appreciation Event on Wootton Bassett High Street, closed to traffic, on Sunday 16th October 2011. This will include the official presentation, military processions, military bands, flypasts and local organisations and groups. It was imperative that the residents could be part of the event and all are able to view the ceremony. Up to 15,000 people were expected to attend.

The event however should be joyous in achieving the recognition, but at all times reflective of the reason behind the royal patronage honour. The event was also to be underwritten by the council, with spending kept to a minimum and justified.

Our Response

Jarvis Woodhouse events team looked at the High Street where the event was to take place, with the aim to provide infrastructure to ensure the estimated 15,000 guests could see and hear the proceedings, as well as presenting ideas for other event elements befitting of such an occasion.

JWe and our chosen suppliers were all humbled to be involved, all feeling gratitude to Wootton Bassett for their noble position to the repatriations over the last few years, and charging greatly reduced rates for the occasion.

After attending initial discussions, meetings, and consulting local focus groups, JWe were successful in winning a four way pitch and awarded the event with only 10 weeks until the event date.

Staging

The stage needed to be suitable for the public to view, as well as press and cameras. It also needed to be positioned so a tri-service march of 200 military personal can march past and salute the Princess Royal. A 6x4m covered stage was suggested, with back and roof for weatherproofing and open sides so it can be viewed from all angles.

The official renaming of the town is received by granting the Letters Patent, a priceless and irreplaceable document issued by the Queen. On the stage we constructed a presentation wall and curtain to secure and present the Letters Patent, revealed by the Princess Royal at the end of her speech.

VIP seating & marquee

The attending VIP’s, including Prime Minister David Cameron were to be seated for the ceremony, and positioned to also view the parade. A raised seating deck with gilt chairs was installed to compensate for the uneven nature of the paving and give the VIP’s a degree of prominence.

Once the official ceremony was complete, the Princess Royal and VIP’s were invited to a reception where they met local people involved in the repatriations. Again due to the nature of the location there was nowhere suitable for this reception, so a marquee was built on the High Street. Within the reception marquee, catering of tea & coffee and sweet and savoury canapés were served.

Audio Visual & Large Screens

Due to the layout of the long, but narrow High Street and that the road was to remain clear for the Royal car and military parade, the only option for the 15,000 expected people was to line the pavements.

This unorthodox positioning caused issues in relation to the public viewing the stage and presentation, so we installed 4 large 10sqm video screens at various points along the High Street, with an extensive outdoor sound system to ensure everyone could see and hear the ceremony. Our camera team were the only permitted cameras to roam around the event area to film proceedings and stream live onto the video screens.

Flags & Bunting

To build a sense of occasion, we supplied 1km of Red, White and Blue street bunting to line both sides of the High Street in the lead up to the event. 10,000 hand flags were printed with the Union Jack and new Royal Wootton Bassett crest, which stewards handed out on the event in return for donations to help with the running costs.

Security & Car Parking

Wiltshire deployed a team of 200 Police officers for this event, due to the Royal and VIP guests. JWe Event Managers attended top-table security meetings to evaluate the potential public order and terrorist threats. Along with the Police, MOD and Royal Security Services, we contacted a private security company and voluntary groups to supply staff and public stewarding.

Due to the lack of parking in the town, a specialist car parking company was brought in to operate a Park & Ride for the day and traffic management plan on the surrounding roads and M4 motorway.

Media

As there would be huge interest from national and international media, it was of great concern to limit the press and camera numbers and areas they could access. To ensure they would not stray from their allocated area, we built a well positioned press pen, as well as supplying a video and audio feed from our cameras and PA system. The press contributed to the cost of this so there was no cost to the council.

Exhibition

Over the period of repatriations, Wootton Bassett received many gifts from all over the country in appreciation of the mark of respect Wootton Bassett has shown to the fallen. We supplied exhibition units to display the gifts so the public could view these over the week of the appreciation ceremony. This proved so popular the exhibition was extended for a further four weeks.