Jenny Waldron and the Fireman!

“An excellent day, I couldn’t fault it; wonderful” enthused Hazel Read, a longstanding TheatreFriend and volunteer at the theatre. She was one of over 40 volunteers who had signed up for a special training course at the Marine Theatre on January 8th; ready to spend a full day at the chalk face! The course was comprehensive; Nick Lawrence the Marine Theatre Trustee in charge of health and safety opened the day looking at Front of House management. His own professional experience as a Front of House manager was invaluable as he was able to draw on incidents to illustrate possible pitfalls. Lee Yearly who was new to volunteering at the theatre and wanted to wait until he had attended a training day before offering to help said “The advice on how to start out as a steward or helping in the coffee bar was particularly re-assuring”

John Skinner from Wessex Fire Protection then ran through fire risks in the theatre and how to use fire extinguishers. Lavinia Ferguson, another new volunteer said “I found the fire drill very reassuring and learning which one to use depending on the type of fire was very important, but the whole day was a very positive experience” There were opportunities for many of the volunteers to use the different extinguishers and the strong winds on the theatre square blew the fumes away safely.

Action stations!  Gill Steinberg saves the day!

After coffee and croissant supplied by Monika Henshaw who is the Volunteer Liaison trustee, among many of her other roles, the day went on to look at managing ticket sales in the box office. Jacky Hedley Tuffs who has managed the finances of the theatre for many years led this section and it led to a lively discussion that carried on in to the delicious lunch. The volunteers had the opportunity to see a DVD specially dealing with how to welcome disabled members of the audience.

Lavinia gets bandaged!

The day then continued with 3 hours of basic first aid training organised by St John’s Ambulance. The trainers emphasised how communication with the casualty was key.Looking after yourself and the casualty. The course also covered treatment of minor to severe bleeding, with bandages being passed out to the trainees, how to treat an unconscious casualty or someone choking was covered as well as somebody complaining of chest pains. The most challenging part was resuscitation of adults but everyone had an opportunity to try it on Annie the model patient.   Gill Savage, who often helps at the theatre, said “I found the first Aid course particularly re-assuring – it taught me how to know you were not going to do more harm but to ensure you only did something useful” The whole day ended in the bar with free drinks and lots of laughs as people recounted their particular experiences, from learning to give mouth to mouth resuscitation to firing off a fire extinguisher.