‘Feel Safe, Have Fun’ day evaluation
Follow the bookmarks below to view the different sections of the
evaluation:
Introduction >>
Key Facts >>
Aims of the event >>
Measures of success>>
Involvement of partner agencies
>>
Venue >>
Entertainment >>
Publicity and public attendance
>>
Survey >>
Contingency plan >>
Cost >>
What
next >>
Introduction
The Safer Havant Partnership’s ‘Feel Safe, Have Fun’ day took
place on the 12th of August 2009 in response to a need
to promote the work of the Partnership and seek the views of
residents on the community safety issues that matter to them.
This evaluation aims to both celebrate the success of this event
and to identify where improvements can be made as part of future
campaigns. The evaluation also details the process of
organising the event and includes templates of action plans,
letters and example site plans. Therefore this document can
also be used to assist in the organisation of future events.
Key facts
- 78 individuals from 20 community safety agencies attended this
event to give help and advice and promote partnership working.
- Over 1000 members of the public visited the event over the
course of the day.
- 178 local residents completed a community safety survey to give
their views on the Partnership’s current priorities.
- Free performances and activities for young people ran
throughout the day, including face painting, displays by the fire
service and police and performances by a local dance group.
- Exhibitors comments included: ‘All enjoyed it and would like to
see more of this type of event’. ‘It was nice to see a multi-agency
approach’, ‘Very well organised and run’, ‘Good to see young people
so well represented’.
Aims of the event
The aims of the Safer Havant Partnership’s ‘Feel Safe, Have Fun’
day were:
- To increase awareness of the Safer Havant Partnership among
residents of the Havant Borough and to demonstrate that a number of
agencies are working together to deal with community safety
issues.
- To give residents information and advice on a range of
community safety issues from professionals in these areas.
- To seek the views of residents on the Safer Havant
Partnership’s current priorities and the issues in their local
area.
The event linked to a wide range of work aimed at promoting the
work of the Safer Havant Partnership to local residents, including
the set up of the Safer Havant Partnership’s new website www.saferhavant.co.uk.
Follow the link below for more information on this work,
including the Safer Havant Partnership’s Engaged Communities
Strategy 2009/2010 and the Quarterly Communications updates:
Link to further information on community
engagement in the Havant Borough >>
The event also linked to a number of national indicators, which
the Home Office use to judge the progress of the Safer Havant
Partnership:
- NI 27 asks residents if they agree that the police and local
council seek people’s views about the anti-social behaviour and
crime issues that matter in this area.
- NI 21 asks residents if they agree that the police and other
local public services are successfully dealing with anti-social
behaviour and crime in their local area.
Measures of success
It was agreed that the success of the event would be measured
by:
- The number of community safety agencies exhibiting at the
event
- Attendance of members of the public at the event
- The number of surveys completed
- Positive feedback from partner agencies who were involved in
the event
Event planning, including successes and areas for
improvement
Havant Borough Council’s Community Safety Projects Officer was
responsible for the organisation and running of this event and
spent an estimated 100 hours over three months planning and
preparing for the event. A detailed action plan was kept
throughout the planning process with deadlines for the completion
of each action.
Involvement of partner agencies
Involvement from a wide range of community safety agencies was
crucial to the success of the event and to the portrayal of the
message that a number of agencies are working together to deal with
anti-social behaviour. Three months before the event took
place the Projects Officer sent out an initial invitation to a
range of community safety agencies to take part in the
event.
Two weeks later this initial invitation was followed up with a
booking form, in which exhibitors were asked for their contact
details, to describe their exhibition and how much space they would
need. This information was vital to completing the site plan
and planning how much space that each exhibit would need. The
Projects Officer also sent an invitation to all the Councillors
working in the Havant Borough, including the Mayor of Havant and
the Deputy Mayor and to the Safer Havant Partnership Strategic
Group.
On the day of the event all agencies asked to attend a briefing
and debriefing session and were given an information sheet with the
timings of the event, emergency contact details, information about
toilet facilities and a site plan. The Projects Officer
compiled a list of all agencies who were attending together with
contact details in case of emergency. Once all the exhibitors
had arrived, an attendance list was sent round the group in case of
emergency and to take orders for lunch.
Successes
The demand for exhibition space exceeded all expectations, with
over twenty local community safety agencies and eighty individuals
taking part in this event. The attendance of so many
community safety agencies successfully promoted the idea that a
number of agencies are working together to deal with crime in the
Havant Borough. Every organisation who agreed to exhibit at
the event attended on the day and the atmosphere was very
positive.
An extremely varied range of exhibitors attended the event,
covering a whole range of community safety issues. As well as
promoting a partnership working message to members of the public,
the attendance of so many agencies gave professionals a chance to
meet each other and discuss their shared priorities.
The presence of partner agencies contributed a great deal to the
look and feel of the event. Exhibitors brought information,
activities and a number of display vehicles, which really made the
event stand out and gave it a visible presence from a
distance. Display vehicles included the Police CCTV van, the
Bobby Trust van, the Accredited Community Safety Officer’s van, the
Havant Borough Council Exhibition Trailer and two fire engines, one
of which had a crane from which the team attached the Safer Havant
Partnership banner to be displayed over the event site.
Each of the organisations who attended the event was asked to
complete a feedback form detailing the successes of the event and
areas for improvement. There were many positive comments
around the attendance of partner agencies at the event,
including:
‘Good range of stands and information’
‘It was nice to see a multi-agency approach’
‘The amount of exhibitors and the diversity of
the topics covered’
‘Good promotion of combined agency working to the general
public’
‘The way in which we all worked together and the
atmosphere on the day’
‘It felt great to all support each other’
‘A chance to network with other organisations and see what
they see as priority issues’
A real opportunity to meet with those who wouldn’t normally come
along to the service’
‘The event was a chance to communicate directly with a section
of the public who may not come to our normal types of events’.
Improvements
Although the range of exhibitors exceeded initial expectations,
attendance of partner organisations could still grow further for
future events. Feedback from partner agencies included some
suggestions for possible additions to the event:
‘I did not see a traffic police officer giving advice and
information’
‘The Ambulance service could have been there, possibly attending
to a mock incident’
Venue
It was decided to hold the event at the ASDA Super Centre in
Bedhampton as this venue had a large designated space for community
engagement events and could be used free of charge. The ASDA
Super Centre is visited by residents throughout the Havant Borough
and is near to Leigh Park, which is a priority area for the Safer
Havant Partnership.
The Projects Officer met with a representative from ASDA on a
number of occasions to discuss their expectations of the event and
to organise details such as parking, in-store announcements and
local publicity. It was decided that the event should be held
on a Wednesday as a free bus ran on that day from Havant Town
Centre, which many elderly people used to access the store.
The event was held in the school summer holidays to ensure that
young people would have access to it and it ran from 11am – 3pm as
this was the busiest time for the store.
Exhibition space was limited at the event due to the number of
organisations who were interested in exhibiting and the number of
display vehicles, including fire engines and the police CCTV
van. Therefore a detailed site plan was completed to allow a
fair amount of space for each agency and to allow access for the
fire engines to leave in an emergency.
The Fire Service volunteered to complete a risk assessment of
the event and on the day of the event the Havant Borough Council
Community Safety Team arrived on site early to check the site for
possible hazards and mark out the area.
Successes
The choice of venue ensured a steady stream of visitors from
members of the public from all over the Havant Borough who were
visiting the ASDA store. Feedback was very positive on the
organisation of the space and the accessibility of the event, with
one exhibitor commenting that they were pleased with ‘How open to
the public it was’. Other comments included:
‘I was pleased with how the event was organised and would
certainly support any repeat next year.’
Improvements
The ASDA site was a good size for this year’s event, but if the
event grew any bigger in the future it would need to be moved to a
larger venue. Although the location provided a steady stream
of visitors to the ASDA store, a venue such as Leigh Park Gardens
or Havant Park might be more attractive for those looking for a
family day out. Some exhibitors suggested alternative venues
for future events:
‘Great day, could it work in the Greywell or the Meridian
Centre?’
‘Although ASDA is a good venue, I would like to see the next
event of its kind linked to an event like the Leigh Park Carnival,
where I feel we would get our message across to more young people
in Havant’
Entertainment
The Safer Havant Partnership Community Engagement Group, chaired
by the Projects Officer, met on the 7th of July to plan
for the upcoming event. One area that the group focused on
was entertainment, and it was decided that a range of eye-catching
displays and activities were needed to draw members of the public
to the event site.
A number of exhibitors ran free activities such as colouring
competitions and badge-making on their stalls. All these
activities made the event more appealing to members of the public
and allowed parents to speak to exhibitors while their children
took part in the free activities.
Hampshire Constabulary and Hampshire Fire and Rescue ran regular
larger displays which both drew members of the public into the
event and made these agencies more approachable. Hampshire
Constabulary’s Public Order Department displayed their riot gear,
demonstrating how it was used and allowing members of the public a
chance to try it on. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service gave
hourly demonstrations on the dangers of chip pan fires, which was
an exciting and eye-catching addition to the event.
Soul-Vant dance group, a local boy’s dance group who are
sponsored by the Safer Havant Partnership, also performed hourly
throughout the day. This display appealed to both older
children and adults and gave the event a great
atmosphere.
Peelers the lion, the Safer Havant Partnership’s mascot was also
used to draw in a younger audience and promote the Safer Havant
Partnership brand, whilst two face painters painted children’s
faces as lions to continue the lion theme.
Successes
The range and quality of the entertainment drew members of the
public into the event and allowed parents to speak with the
community safety exhibitors while their children took part in free
activities. The presence of Soul-Vant Dance group bought a
really buzz and good atmosphere to the event. There were a
number of positive comments around the boys dance group,
including:
‘Great to see something on a more positive note about young
people and how they contribute positively towards many areas within
their community’
The display by Hampshire Fire and Rescue drew a crowd of about
50 spectators with each performance and was both a great spectacle
and promoted a serious message about fire safety. Police and
Fire Service displays and demonstrations make these agencies more
accessible and approachable to members of the public.
The presence of face painters also drew young people and their
parents to the site, and reinforced the Safer Havant Partnership
brand through their lion face-painting, whilst the Safer Havant
Partnership mascot Peelers the lion attracted a younger audience to
the event.
Improvements
The combination of regular demonstrations and fixed displays
helped to draw in members of the public who were visiting the ASDA
store. Unfortunately the sound system that had been organised
did not work on the day of the event, and exhibitors commented that
they would like to see a ‘better sound system for the dance/fire
presentation’. If the event expanded in the future and moved
to a larger venue there would be many other entertainment
opportunities, including possible bouncy castles, climbing walls
and performances by local schools. One partner agency
commented:
‘(If the space was bigger) we could have got a climbing wall and
other things to have attracted more children and so got more adults
in’
Publicity and public attendance
The Safer Havant Partnership began to promote the event a month
before with the Havant Borough Council Communications Team issuing
a press release advertising the event. A second press release
was issued the week before the event and a third was produced on
the day of the event, which included pictures taken by the official
photographer.
A leaflet was designed and produced to promote the event.
This was distributed to a number of community centres, libraries
and doctors surgeries across the Borough, and poster versions were
displayed in public notice boards throughout the Havant
Borough.
Posters were also displayed within partner agencies, including
Havant Police station and Havant Borough Council Civic
Offices. Finally, 1000 leaflets were also distributed at
Havant Borough Council’s Play Day event, which took place a week
before the Safer Havant Partnership’s event.
The event was also advertised on a number of local websites
including the Havant Borough Council and Hampshire County Council
website, on a number of Hampshire event websites and on the Safer
Havant Partnership’s own website www.saferhavant.co.uk
On the day of the event ASDA agreed to put out an announcement
in store every thirty minutes in order to let customers know that a
performance or display was about to take place. ASDA also
produced a large sign which was displayed outside the store in the
week running up to the event.
A range of Safer Havant Partnership promotional materials were
used at the event to raise awareness of the Partnership and their
website address. Promotional goods that were distributed
included balloons, rucksacks, lanyards, wallets and reflective
wristbands. Safer Havant Partnership information packs were
also distributed on the day of the event.
A local photographer was also hired for two hours to record the
event. These photographs can be used for promoting future
events and to publicise the success of the event on the Safer
Havant Partnership’s website.
Successes
Over 1000 members of the public attended the event over the
course of the day, with a number of visitors commenting that they
had seen the leaflet or had heard about the event at the previous
weeks Play Day event. The Safer Havant Partnership website
saw 158 unique visitors in the week following the event and 30
unique visitors on the day of the event, which is a rise of about
50% on the average visitor rates. Councillor Andy Lenaghan,
Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, commented:
‘The event was very well attended by both partner agencies and
members of the community, who were able to give their views on
community safety issues and obtain a great deal of information
about what is happening to make the Borough of Havant a safer place
to live and work.’
A number of partner agencies also commented on responses from
members of the public on the day of the event:
‘Lots of interest particularly from parents of young
people’
‘Some people I spoke to came from outside of the Borough, some
as far as Liss. They thought what we were doing was
excellent’
‘All comments offered to us and overheard about the event were
positive’
The local newspaper ‘The News’ published three small articles
promoting the day in the run up to the event. The News
photographer attended the event and following the event The News
published a very positive half-page article on the day with a large
picture of the chip-pan fire display. This article included a
quotation from Councillor Andy Lenaghan, Portfolio Holder for
Community Safety and reflected the partnership’s key message that a
number of agencies are working together to deal with crime and
anti-social behaviour issues. The event was also discussed on
a number of local radio stations with clips from an interview with
the Projects Officer.
Improvements
Although the event was picked up by local media, perhaps by
linking the event to a national campaign such as Alcohol Awareness
Week or Not in my Neighbourhood Week media interest could be
further boosted. If the event grew larger in the future and
the venue was changed it would be easier to promote the event as a
fun family day out. One partner agency commented that at the
next event we could: ‘Heighten community PR and media’
Survey
This large public event was a great opportunity to survey local
residents to ask them if they agreed with the Safer Havant
Partnership’s priorities for the year ahead. The survey was
tested at a large community event that ran the week before and
minor changes were made to the wording to make the survey more
readable. Brightly coloured t-shirts were produced to make
those The t-shirts were printed with ‘We want your
views!’ and the Safer Havant Partnership logo and website address,
ensuring that members of the public knew that the partnership were
seeking the views of local residents at this event. Members
of Neighbourhood Watch and Motiv8 were asked to take residents
through the survey and worked hard throughout the day to beat the
target of 100 completed surveys.
Successes
In total 178 surveys were completed on the day of the event,
beating the target of 100 completed surveys. The information
gathered through the surveys will be used to inform the Safer
Havant Partnership’s priorities for upcoming year and confirm that
they are currently tackling the right issues and problem
areas. The completion of these surveys by local residents
also promotes the idea that the Partnership seeks the views of
local residents on the community safety issues that matter to
them.
Improvements
The teams found that the wording on the questionnaire could be
further altered to make it simpler to read and
understand.
Contingency Plan
An alternative plan was produced for the event in case of bad
weather. The Projects Officer discussed possible alternative
arrangements with the Community Engagement Group and it was decided
that if raining on the day the event would take place inside the
ASDA store in a space by the till area. The event would have
been significantly reduced with agencies sharing tables and limited
entertainment. Gazebos were also considered but ruled out due
to lack of space at the event site.
Cost
Due to the support of members of the Safer Havant Partnership
and of ASDA, the cost of the event was very low. Many items
that were purchased for this event could also be reused at later
events. In total the Safer Havant Partnership spent just over
£1100 on the event
What next?
This event forms part of a longer term strategy aimed at
promoting the work of the Safer Havant Partnership and. While
this event focused on promoting the Partnership itself, future
events will focus on tackling the partnership’s current three
priorities, which are anti-social behaviour, alcohol and
violence. Feedback from exhibitors was overwhelmingly
positive and therefore the partnership would like to make a large
public partnership-working day part
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