The Cheltenham Passion Play
2000
Good Friday, 21st
April, 2000
Arrangements on the day
·
Nigel Woodall was in charge of
Stewards at the head of the procession - Combined Cadet Force cadets from
Pate’s under Nigel’s leadership were in their military uniform. Other stewards wore fluorescent jackets.
·
Keith Dawson was in charge of
Stewards at the rear of the procession.
·
Stewards were in Sandford Park
by the fountain near College Road from 11-15.
·
Two St John Ambulance First
Aiders were in attendance
The timings throughout are very
approximate. The following arrangements
and timings were given to the police in draft a few weeks before the
event. A final copy of the detailed
plans was handed into the Police in person a few days before the event. All licences and permissions had been granted
for use of Parks and for a Procession through the town with the Borough Council
and from the Police. In planning the
route and the following arrangements the Organisers were indebted to the the
Police and the Council Officers for their very helpful advice and guidance, all
of which was followed. All shopkeepers
along the route were informed of the plans in writing and in person.
Act 1 Friendship Sandford Park` 12-00
The Action took place around the Park and
finished by the Bath Road Gates at 12-50
a small group of 3 came through the gates
in advance of the others.
Then a couple of minutes later a group of
15 followed on - the core cast.
Then a couple of minutes later the Donkey
led the remainder of the crowd.
The Police had said in a letter that they
would be unable to provide cover for the procession through the Town. The organisers had said that this was unwise
on two counts - first, traffic might not stop so readily for stewards, whereas
they would stop for the police; second, if our stewards stopped the traffic for
a sizeable crowd that could cause a back log of traffic jams and prevent access
through the town for emergency vehicles - this would not arise if the traffic
was stopped by Police in touch with the control room. In a phone call the Police accepted these
comments and said that they would be meet the organisers in Sandford Park. They did not attend ... and were not attendance
for any part of the event. This meant
that the stewards we had trained to marshal the crowd through the shopping
centre were not able to do that. They
had to be diverted to stop the traffic.
At one point one vehicle broke through the cordon of uniformed stewards
and proceeded to drive through the rear end of the Procession. One of the Organisers remonstrated in vain
with the driver - the chief stewards were side-tracked into dealing with that
situation. As a result the stewarding in
the High Street was such that shoppers found it difficult to get by the
crowd. The crowd coming from Sandford
Park was 600. By the time the Play
arrived in Imperial Gardens the crowd numbered about 2,000. With such numbers some kind of Police
presence is essential.
Traffic was stopped at the Traffic lights
on Bath Road / Bath Street Junction
Procession moved from Sandford Park Gates
up Bath Road,
round into Bath Street
to Cambray Church.
Some gathered in the Courtyard outside
the Church
others remained on the pavement outside
the Courtyard.
Act 2 - Remembrance 1-00
The first part of the action
took place at Cambray starting at approx 1-00 for 15 minutes
Then the procession headed off
at 1-15 from Cambray up and left on to the High Street
The traffic was blocked off at
Cambray
The Second part of the Act took
place outside Burger King starting at approx 1-25
At approx 1-45 the procession
moved off up the High Street towards Boots Corner
around into the Promenade
and to the Hare and Minotaur for
the start of the next Act
The traffic was blocked off at the end of Pittville Street
- where the Pedestrianised part of the High Street finishes
Act
3 - Betrayal - The Promenade 2-00
The Action took place in front of
Hooper’s from 2-00 to 2-20
The Procession set off at approx 2-20
between the bollards outside Cavendish House
At the road we crossed at an angle on to
the wide Pavement and up the Promenade
Through the War Memorial
and on to the Inner Promenade outside the
steps of the Municipal Offices
Trial before Pilate was approx 2-25
The Inner Promenade was closed to cars
over night [we had access in a van and a
car
for our technical people] The Inner Promenade was entirely free of
cars.
Traffic was stopped at Crescent Terrace
- where the pedestrianised part of the
Promenade finishes
Procession set off at approx 2-40
up the Inner Promenade and back on to the
Promenade
the Procession crossed over on to the
pavement by Gap then through the junction
and on to the Pavement outside the
Quadrangle
The traffic was stopped just before that
junction.
The Procession went up to the main
pathway into Imperial Gardens and turned into Imperial Gardens
Act
4 - Death 2-50
The crucifixion scene took place at the
back of the Town Hall - on Imperial Gardens.
Scaffolding had been errected on Maundy Thursday when there had been
opportunity for one rehearshal. A
volunteer remained with the scaffolding until the early hours of the morning.
The play finished at approx 3-00. In the event the Play actually finished about
ten minutes early.
The crowd then dispersed.
The costumed cast made their way back to
St Luke’s Church Hall.
Easter Sunday Morning
The entire action took place on Imperial
Gardens and so we did not need any Police cover.
Act
5 - Resurrection 8-00 on Easter Sunday Morning
The cast gathered at St Andrew’s Church
at 7-30 and processed acrross to the Imperial Gardens at 7-55.
The crowd gathered ready for 8-00 in the morning facing the gate to the
walled garden. That gate was now open -
no one went into the Garden. The
emergency blanket in which Christ had been wrapped at the end of Act 4 was left
neatly folded on the bench in the arbour within the Walled Garden after the
gate was locked. It remained there
through the Easter period.
At the end at 8-30 approx cast and crowd
returned to St Andrew’s URC church at the bottom of Montpellier St. On Easter Sunday there was a crowd of
approximately 600.