News - Christmas lights switch on

Select got into the Christmas spirit looking after over 30,000 people attending Christmas Light switch on events across Northern Ireland last weekend.

Whilst the crowds enjoyed an appearance from Father Christmas at each event, Select’s team of qualified Crowd Safety Event Stewards and Security staff worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make the events pass without any problems.

At events such as Newtownards Select’s staff teamed up with their Community Safety Officer colleagues provided to Ards Community Safety Partnership to look after Anti Social Behaviour issues across the town centre.

With the majority of these events involving parades through a busy town centre, it was important to ensure the safety of everyone, especially with significant amount of children attending with their parents.

Banbridge Council sent in a email following their event: “Just a quick note to say thanks so much for all your help on Friday night, it was a great success. Your staff provided an excellent service as always. Pass on our thanks for the rest of you team.”

Andrew McQuillan, Managing Director, commented “Whilst the public enjoy these exciting events, they may not appreciate that quite literally months of planning goes on behind the scenes to make sure they are safe throughout. The added challenge for Select was deploying staff across Northern Ireland on what is the busiest single day of our winter season.

Our experienced Management Team, who hold Foundation Degrees in Crowd Safety Management from Bucks New University and are studying for BA (Hons) in Crowd Safety Management, produced Crowd Management Plans for each event based on the latest industry techniques and research to plan for every eventuality.

Thanks to our meticulous planning, we were able to cope with the unexpected such as the largest ever crowd seen at a Larne Council event with the town centre packed with revellers.”