New Year's Eve Set Up Day 1
A convey of three 45ft trailers, two transit vans, a 7.5 tonne lorry, two 4 x 4's and a crew 18 seater minibus left Kimbolton at 06:00 am to head for dock where we load up the barges, just opposite the O2 arena. The crew of 26 were in good spirits after the Christmas break and were eager to start working on this prestigious event, after an initial safety briefing PPE was handed out and the 30 tonnes of equipment was off loaded a pallet at a time on to the three barges.
General Marine are well known on the river Thames and provide the barges and infrastructure for most of the firework events on the river. It was good to see the Mercator back in service after being out of action last year, still covered in grass from a previous publicity stunt when a male and female top seed tennis star played each other on the barge as they were floated through central London. When it gets wet however the barge is reminiscent of a boggy wet field in November which is a strange occurrence when on a barge on the Thames.
At this time of year it obviously gets dark early so lighting rigs are essential, there is also the call of nature, so a porta loo on the barge is a necessity, especially on New Year's Eve itself when there are no toilets we can access without going in to the busy crowds which start to gather from 6pm. Crew welfare is also something we try to be extravagant with, porta cabins with heating are provided for refuge and somewhere to sit and eat lunch which we have brought in, a hearty chili and rice with a drink is enough to keep everyone going as it starts to get dark and the temperature drops.
As the day turns to night our crew carry on to just past 7pm before going to the hotel for a well earned shower and drink, the barges are loaded and most of the mortar racks built and numbered, tomorrow we can start loading the first fireworks.
This highly complex and challenging display is for us a 24 hour operation, as the barge crews finish for the day and go back to the hotel, the 8 Eye crew are just starting. Due to the London Eye being a major tourist attraction the only time we can work on the Eye is when it is closed to the public, at this time of year the last ride or flight is at 21:00 so our guys arrive on site to get ready for the night shift, warm clothing, fall arrest harnesses and the specialist tools we need to rig are prepared. As soon as the Eye is handed over to us our team start to haul up the 32 cradles, the mechanism we have fabricated to receive the fireworks and house the FireOne module.
Working through the night and finishing at 7am this morning, our team managed to get all 32 cradles rigged ready to start running the data cable tonight. At the other end of town our barge crews were leaving the hotel at 7 this morning to commence with day 2 of the rig.
General Marine are well known on the river Thames and provide the barges and infrastructure for most of the firework events on the river. It was good to see the Mercator back in service after being out of action last year, still covered in grass from a previous publicity stunt when a male and female top seed tennis star played each other on the barge as they were floated through central London. When it gets wet however the barge is reminiscent of a boggy wet field in November which is a strange occurrence when on a barge on the Thames.
At this time of year it obviously gets dark early so lighting rigs are essential, there is also the call of nature, so a porta loo on the barge is a necessity, especially on New Year's Eve itself when there are no toilets we can access without going in to the busy crowds which start to gather from 6pm. Crew welfare is also something we try to be extravagant with, porta cabins with heating are provided for refuge and somewhere to sit and eat lunch which we have brought in, a hearty chili and rice with a drink is enough to keep everyone going as it starts to get dark and the temperature drops.
As the day turns to night our crew carry on to just past 7pm before going to the hotel for a well earned shower and drink, the barges are loaded and most of the mortar racks built and numbered, tomorrow we can start loading the first fireworks.
This highly complex and challenging display is for us a 24 hour operation, as the barge crews finish for the day and go back to the hotel, the 8 Eye crew are just starting. Due to the London Eye being a major tourist attraction the only time we can work on the Eye is when it is closed to the public, at this time of year the last ride or flight is at 21:00 so our guys arrive on site to get ready for the night shift, warm clothing, fall arrest harnesses and the specialist tools we need to rig are prepared. As soon as the Eye is handed over to us our team start to haul up the 32 cradles, the mechanism we have fabricated to receive the fireworks and house the FireOne module.
Working through the night and finishing at 7am this morning, our team managed to get all 32 cradles rigged ready to start running the data cable tonight. At the other end of town our barge crews were leaving the hotel at 7 this morning to commence with day 2 of the rig.
posted by Kimbolton at
11:42 AM
2 Comments:
Superb set of pictures. Did you take any others of General Marines fleet of tugs or at the firework display perhaps?
Everyone going as it starts to get dark and the temperature drops.
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