Having already extended their involvement with the Newmarket Racecourse, EventGuard has now signed a two-year deal with The Jockey Club coving both Newmarket and Huntingdon racecourses.
The contract is worth in excess of £100k and will see EventGuard providing the stewarding and security at the two Newmarket courses, The Rowley Mile and The July Course which jointly attract over 350,000 race-goers each year, and the course in Huntingdon.
The July Course is also the venue for seven high profile concerts each year, for which EventGuard will also be providing the security.
Nigel Briggs, EventGuard Managing Director, commented “We are delighted to be the stewarding and security provider to these prestigious courses, and particularly to extend our involvement with Newmarket with it’s worldwide reputation as ‘the home of racing’ ”
EventGuard to see cyclists safely through cities
EventGuard are supporting the Norfolk stages of the 2010 Tour of Britain.
The company will have around 90 staff helping with the marshalling, crowd control and assisting the local constabulary with hand over at critical points.
EventGuard will be covering the start in Kings Lynn, the stage through the centre of Norwich and the finish at Great Yarmouth, with the police handling a rolling road-closure operation on the sections between the urban areas.
An estimated 80,000 people are expected to line the route and cheer on the riders
Reaccreditation
EventGuard has been re-accredited under the annual reassessment required as members of the British Security Industries Association, and has also had its ISO 9001 accreditation reaffirmed following the annual review.
Recent contracts
EventGuard has announced a number of new and renewed contracts to kick off the third quarter of 2010:
Out-of-hours alarm response and key holding for Norfolk Toyota dealership Dingles Group. Ensuring efficient security procedures are in place is vital bearing in mind the several hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of stock sitting in their showroom.
OPEN is a Norwich based youth facility offering, dance studio, music venue, health suite, advice and guidance centre and climbing wall. EventGuard was awarded the contract to provide key holding and evening and night time security services. The company is also providing security staff for the weekend evening SOS bus that helps youngsters get home around the City.
July 2010 saw over 90 EventGuard staff handing the security, marshalling and stewarding for the annual Lord Mayors Procession. Each year around 35,000 people line the streets of Norwich on the 1 mile route through the City centre and EventGuard has been providing security for the last 5 years.
The City Council also organises ‘Sparks in the Park’ the annual fireworks display that attracts around 20k people in November, and EventGuard have again been awarded the on-the-night security contract.
In 2010 Basildon Town Council is staging two music concerts at Billericay – one classical evening and one with Will Young. In 2009 the Council put on one concert and EventGuard’s handing of the security won them the contract for this year’s events.
For the third year running EventGuard was contracted to provide route stewarding, car park marshalling and general security for the annual Tamilspilgrimage to the holy shrine at Walsingham in North Norfolk. Working in conjunction with Norfolk Constabulary, EventGuard was involved at all stages of the event planning to ensure a safe and enjoyable pilgrimage for the 8,000 plus visitors, and deployed 52 staff on the day.
The 2010 Tour of Britain will see estimated crowds of 80,000 plus lining the routes to cheer on the cyclists.
EventGuard will have around 74 staff marshalling the Norfolk section stages, stewarding, and managing road closure on 16th September. There will be three sections in Norfolk: the start at Kings Lynn, a mid section through Norwich city centre, and the end at Great Yarmouth.
The event will also provide another opportunity for students studying to qualify under the 2012 Olympics ‘Bridging the Gap’ scheme, to gain practical experience of event stewardship.
EventGuard first to undertake new specialist training requirement
EventGuard are set to become the first security firm in Norfolk to have staff Qualified under new requirements of the industry’s governing body, the British Security Industry Association (SIA).
When their operating licence comes due for renewal all existing SIA registered door staff, and any new entrants to the field, must now undertake specific training in ‘Physical Intervention’ which is a National Level 2 award.
Around 30 of EventGuard’s staff are due to undergo the training before the end of the year according to Managing Director Nigel Briggs.
The course has been designed by local company Elite Academy of Security Training, one of only a select number companies in the UK to be approved to provide the training to trainers as well as Door Staff, and whose partners have over 20 years experience in teaching the police and prison officers in UK, Europe and the USA.
“With recent tragedies involving door security staff and members of the public, the police are keen that all people working in this sector of the industry are properly trained in physical intervention,” commented one of Elite’s partners, Bob Betts.
“We have been working with EventGuard for many years now,” Betts added, “and they were the first to approach us when the new SIA requirement was announced. Some senior members of their staff will also become accredited to deliver the training course.”
EventGuard are a subsidiary of Norse commercial services.
EventGuard helps students Bridge-the-Gap for 2012 Olympics - BBC Look East
Sarah de Chair, Show Manager at the Norfolk Showground was full of praise for the EventGuard team and students:
“Event Guard have organised our road traffic management for the past two years at the Royal Norfolk Show and I can’t praise them enough for a job very well done. The team are approachable, no sooner are they asked to do something it is done, they are full of new ideas for improvement and problem solving. It is reassuring, as an event organiser, to have such a great team behind me, I could not recommend them more highly.”
EventGuard helps students Bridge-the-Gap for 2012 Olympics
EventGuard is acting as appraiser for the practical assessment elements of a level 2 qualification in understanding stewarding, ready for the London Olympics.
Called ‘Bridging the Gap’, the project is aimed at helping train college students to provide additional, trained stewarding personnel for the 2012 London Olympics.
As part of their assessment, students from East Norfolk Sixth Form College in Gorleston, the local training provider, have been involved with a number of high profile events for which EventGuard have provided security and stewarding.
At the end of June, 25 students worked alongside EventGuard personnel, marshalling the car parks and stewarding at the annual Royal Norfolk Show.
At the Norwich City FC promotion procession through the city centre in May, 22 students helped marshal the thousands of fans who turned out to cheer the team along the route.
In April, 20 students worked with EventGuard staff when a high profile South African delegation and international football star visited a number of locations around Norfolk.
EventGuard Managing Director Nigel Briggs, said that helping the students understand the practical aspects of event stewarding and security has a double benefit. “Not only will this qualification help ensure a smooth running London Olympics,” he commented, “but it also plays an important role in making the youngsters appreciate the need for discipline and control at other events that they and their friends might attend, such as concerts, sports matches and public gatherings.”
Bob Betts, Project co-ordinator for the Eastern Region and a teacher at the college said, “This project will not only provide qualified staff for the 2012 games but, as a legacy, it will introduce a new generation of staff ready to work in the Stewarding and Security industry in the area. The partnership of the college and Event Guard has been fantastic for the students and is seen as an example of “Best Practice” for the National Project.”
The College Principal, Laurie Poulson, added, “This scheme is providing our Public Services students with some very valuable insights and experiences which help to put their main studies into a practical context.”
EventGuard add to their fleet of patrol vehicles
EventGuard continue to grow and develop and have now increased their fleet of vehicles to cope with the demand for mobile patrols and alarm responses to clients premises.
Managing Director Nigel Briggs commented: “It is testament to the development of these crucial areas within the company that clients are seeing the importance of having a locally based company looking after their business interests.”
Ian Tilley, manager of this arm of the business added: “The high demand over recent months highlights the excellent benefits to having a visible deterrent at all times of the day and night.”
EventGuard on the ball with procession security
EventGuard ensured that football League Division One winners Norwich City’s promotion procession through the City ran to schedule and without incident.
Over 30,000 jubilant fans lined the route through the city centre to celebrate their clubs promotion to the Championship.
EventGuard, official security contractors to the procession’s organisers Norwich City Council, had over 100 personal deployed along the 1 mile route and in the grounds of the final destination, the City’s famous Norman castle.
With a high turnout anticipated to cheer the victorious team, both the City Council and Norfolk Constabulary insisted that EventGuard were involved from the initial planning stages of the event.
Helen Selleck, Events and Culture Manager at Norwich City Council commented, “We are very lucky to have such a positive ‘can do’ group of organisations in the city that can work together and turn these things around so quickly. It was a real pleasure working with EventGuard.”
“We were absolutely delighted to take part in the celebrations, both to ensure the safety of the fans, players and club personnel, and to be able to show our own support for the team,” commented EventGuard Managing Director Nigel Briggs.
Two of EventGuard’s staff, Neil Hoeppner and Chris Mann, have been life-long fans and were keen to express their own thrill at being part of the carnival atmosphere.
“It was absolutely brilliant to be a part of the celebration and to help with making it run smoothly,” Chris said. “Great to see the team back in the Championship and to be able to be there with all the other fans who turned out to cheer them on,” were Neil’s comments.
EventGuard are the only security firm in Norfolk and Suffolk to be fully accredited by the police.
EventGuard secures The Forum
The Forum Trust has appointed EventGuard as providers of overnight security at The Forum, Norwich’s landmark Millennium building.
The Forum houses the Norfolk & Norwich Millennium Library, BBC East’s headquarters and a number of other high profile tenants. It is also home to a year-round line-up of events, activities and exhibitions.
The contract will cover premises patrols of The Forum and the surrounding complex, access control and CCTV monitoring from Midnight through to 7am. BBC Radio Norfolk will be main user of services with staff often present throughout the night.
The initial contract is for a three-year period, with an optional extension for a further two years and takes the value of security agreements that EventGuard has with The Forum Trust to around £44,000 a year.
Steve Falvey, Head of Operations & Facilities for The Forum Trust, said “By adding this additional contract I am pleased to build on a long-standing working relationship which started when we opened The Forum back in 2001.
We’ve worked closely with EventGuard during many events and activities over the years and have always been extremely happy with the professional and customer-focused approach their personnel provide.”
EventGuard is a leading provider of professional Security Industry Authority (SIA) licensed security personnel, ranging from one-off events to long-term and comprehensive security services. They are also the only security company in Norfolk to gain police accreditation.
On Song for 2010
Tickeast, the concert management company, has again appointed EventGuard to provide security at the six events it is staging during the 2010 summer season.
EventGuard will have between 25 and 45 staff at each of the high-profile concerts, which include Katherine Jenkins, Will Young, Simply Red, Madness and Russell Watson.
“Working with EventGuard in 2009 was an absolute pleasure,” commented Roy Trickett, director of Tickeast, “They were the obvious choice to provide our security at the series of concerts again this year. It doesn’t matter where around the country we stage an event, the EventGuard team can always be relied on.”
The contract is worth £30k a year and will see EventGuard personnel at locations including the Royal Park at Sandringham, Chelmsford and Romsey in Hampshire.
Racing Certainty
EventGuard will be providing additional security personnel for the 2010 season of race meetings, including the One Thousand and Two Thousand Guineas, and evening concerts at Newmarket Racecourse.
With increased numbers of punters and visitors expected this year, EventGuard have been awarded the contract to supply the additional security personnel needed to ensure safety and protection around the course, members’ enclosure and car parks.
A spokesperson for Newmarket said “EventGuard provided superb levels of service across all aspects of security during 2009 and, with our anticipated growth in visitor numbers this year, we are confident that they are well placed to deliver the same high standards that the Newmarket Racecourse is renowned for.”
The Newmarket deal is part of a £140k a year contract that EventGuard has with the Jockey Club.
“We are delighted to be working with Newmarket Racecourse again this year,” commented EventGuard Managing Director Nigel Briggs. “Over the first weekend, we had in excess of 100 staff deployed to multiple locations around the course, and security at the first race of the season went like clockwork.”
EventGuard provides security for high-profile South African dignitaries visit
EventGuard recently provided security for the high-profile visit to Norwich of the South African High Commissioner to London, two South African First Ministers and celebrity Portsmouth and South Africa football captain Aaron Mokoena.
The visitors were in Norfolk to lend support to a visionary youth-football tournament initiative aimed at building ties between schools in Norfolk and South Africa.
Tight security was required throughout the day and the EventGuard team, led by General Manager Martin Leeder, took on the considerable responsibility for ensuring not only the safety of the high-level diplomats and football star throughout their visit, but also their swift and efficient transport between a number of locations around the City.
Following arrival at the Norse premises, the delegation was driven to a luncheon reception at Norfolk County Hall, hosted by County Council Chairperson, Sheliagh Gurney, before travelling back across the city to the High School staging the tournament.
With the School security always an issue, and traffic increased from visiting teams, regional football personnel and the considerable media presence, EventGuard worked in conjunction with the county constabulary and crime protection personnel to ensure security was always clearly evident without being intrusive.
EventGuard Managing Director Nigel Briggs, commented: “We were delighted to be involved with the tournament and honoured to be selected to provide the security for our South African friends throughout their visit to Norfolk. This type of event requires sensitive security provision; something that, having worked in Royal Parks and at numerous prestigious events, is a core facet of EventGuard’s services.”
EventGuard win at prestigious local Recruitment Awards
EventGuard won the accolade of the ‘Judges Special Acknowledgement’ award for the best company of all entrants, at the 2009 EDP Recruitment Awards.
“It’s a great honour to win this recognition,” commented EventGuard Managing Director Nigel Briggs. “it is a strong endorsement of our recruitment and training policy that is vital in the provision of professional security staff.”
EventGuard was also a finalist in the ‘Team of the Year’ category, where the judges look for teams that are both cohesive and successful, and that consistently achieves its goals, and the ‘Manager of the Year’ category, where provision of direction and motivation of others were prime criteria.
The annual event celebrates and recognises the many talents held by individuals, teams and companies in the Norfolk and North Suffolk area.
Call us now on 01603 894200 or email admin@eventguard.co.uk
All EventGuard security staff are fully licensed and vetted to and above the required British Standards ensuring a standard of professionalism we can be proud of.
