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Kas

Halloween at Coalhouse (Report)

For the past 6 months myself and Mel have been planning the Halloween event at Coalhouse Fort. The event is one of the biggest and most important events for the fort. To keep the fort open to the public we have to raise £20k a year. So an event like Halloween is a good fund raiser.
If i had of realised though six months ago how hard and stressful it would have been, i may be would have thought twice.

For the first time this year we would have a theme. I wanted to get away from all the plastic witches and scream masks, but what should we do?
I sat with Mel one night discussing it and Mel came up with i brilliant idea.
What was our biggest prop? A Victorian Fort with a tunnel system.
From that moment "Victorian London, Ripper's revenge" was born.
We contacted a local drama group, who jumped at the chance to be involved. They brought an extra dimension this year in that we would have proper actors carring out choreographed scenes.

Doubts were raised that it wouldn't be scary enough. It was such a different step and if we got it wrong it would cost the fort dearly.
Previous organisers of the event decided they didn't want to be involved this year. Not because of the theme but of the stress caused to them during previous events. We soon became very alone in the preparation.
Having to learn from scratch how to organise the event.
The drama students began to rehearse during the summer though and we had another break when we secured the help of a prop manufacturer based locally that designs and produces props for theatre productions.
We would have particular scenes, some of which included, Mrs Lovetts pie shop and Sweeney Todds barber shop, a routine that would see the victims throat cut and special effects blood spray the room from the victim. Newgate Gaol, a morgue where the victims would sit up from their beds and scream as the public entered, a pub scene and best of all the ripper taking a victim in Mitre Square, all of these would be interactive with the public.

Mel began to make the costumes months ago while i tried to work out how to create the special effects. Light, sound, smoke, all had to be installed. Not easy in a 150 year old building that was left to rot.
At the beggining of October things gathered pace and once the last event prior to Halloween had taken place on the 26th of October we could start to dress the tunnels. We worked night and day and the tunnels were slowly transformed in to Victorian London. Then on Wednesday the 28th as we were unloading a removal lorry containing most of the borrowed props we recieved a devastating phone call.

Someone had contacted the local council through the health and safety website claiming we had poor electrics in water filled tunnel and shouldn't be allowed to hold the event. The council would be sending their officials to the fort the following day to carry out an examination.
We couldn't beleive it. All the hard work that everyone had put in and at the last moment we could be shut down. We were sure though that the complaint was malicious.

We met with the council at the fort the following day and sat around a table in our tearoom. It was all very serious and official. We was asked a series of questions to which we asked honestly. The thing on our side though was that as well as improving the actual event we had decided to improve everything this year. Every aspect. We had learnt from previous years. We had in fact produced five separate health and safety risk assessments. Each covering a specific area. We had doubled all our safety precautions. We had brought in a proffessional security team that had medics, child care officers, and a trained fire crew. They practiced in full breathing apparatus in the tunnels. Practising rescue and recovery.

The council were impressed but still wanted a tour of the tunnels.
Unfortunatly the tunnels do get wet when it rains. You can't really help it was such a building, and yes the electrics are a problem, not that they aren't safe but in the limitations you have running powere to certain areas.

The thing is though that electric and water do not mix. It was something that i spent most of my time getting right.
For all you knowledgable history people, you will know why the fort has quite a special way of getting around this.
It has a lighting tunnel.
You had a main access tunnel (the one that the puplic would use) that served the various rooms that used to contain the gunpowder. Obviously they couldn't light these rooms with candle light so they had another tunnel running parallel at the back of the rooms. The lighting tunnel.
Candles were placed in windows behind glass lighting the rooms.

All electrics were kept to the lighting tunnels and well away from the public.
The council did there walk through and at the end they found no reason at all why we could go ahead. We were perfectly safe.

With the check out of the way we finished off the preparation and were ready to open on the Friday night.
We were in for quite a shock though as with an hour to go a queue ten people wide stretching for thousands of metres had formed. The gates opened at 7pm and the public entered the fort. Normally we shut the tunnels at about 9.30pm as the actors will be very tired. We infact carried on till 11.00pm to get every one that had being queuing through. We were shattered but some had queued for two hours and the queue for the cars stretched back miles.
At midnight after the last of the public had gone i sat exhausted not really knowing if people had enjoyed it. Then the stories started to emerge from the night from the various participants. It was clear that the puplic had loved it, and it had been very scarey too!

We had broke all previous attendance records and raised a staggering £6000. Also out of the thousands of people that attended, not one person had been injured or hurt.

The following morning in read this which was possibly the biggest morale boast i could have had.

Quote:
Just returned from Halloween Victorian London, queued for one and half hours in freezing cold....but it was so worth the wait. Only went because my son was one of the performers but have promised myself and my sons that we will return every Halloween..
It was absolutely amazing....and very scary. Well done to everyone involved, best Halloween I have had, thank you!!


Unfortunately Saturday was one of the wettest days i have known. Parts of the tunnels were very wet and unfortunately we had to remove parts of the theme to keep things safe. It was a shame but we stayed open against the odds and raised another £2.5k. I think if it hadn't rained as bad as what it did we would have raised over £10k.
But it wasn't to be. Everyone involved though worked so hard. I owe so much thans to so many people. It wasn't easy, it cost me my job and my health but looking back it was so worth it. I feel immensely proud to have achieved what we did.

Yesterday i found out that a Theatre critic had attended on the Friday night. He reviews all the big theatre productions and famously goes by the name "Wilf Critic". Apparently he always finds faults, even with the best up town productions. This is what he had to say about our event that will be submitted to the papers.

Quote:
Coalhouse Fort Project Team do it again!



Last weekend saw yet another “spectacular” Halloween event held at the Coalhouse Fort.

With a brand new format and “opening night takings” smashing previous records, fund-raising for the Fort has never been more visible to the masses.



Teaming up with seasoned performers from “The Drama Shed” a local Theatre / Drama Academy, the Fort really surpassed themselves this year with a themed event, entitled “Rippers Revenge” and based around Old Victorian London.



Friday night was a crisp clear and dry evening although freezing cold, and a complete contrast to Saturday. In fact a world class Salsa Group (“I Love Salsa”), booked on Saturday to entertain waiting crowds had to disappoint them due to a very wet stage area. Shame!



Queues of cars and people, stretching for hundreds of yards on the Friday, indicated that organisers were in for a very long event and I even wondered if I would get in when I arrived as only one of nearly three thousand 3000 people seeking a Friday night fright.

Car parking and volumes of people for an event of this nature will always pose a challenge, however event organisers Kieron and Melanie Saville had accounted for all eventualities and did an excellent job of allocating courteous and organised staff to direct proceedings as smoothly as possible.



Outside the Fort on Friday evening, entertainment was provided to waiting crowds by an experienced Dance troupe from South Ockendon called JTD Performing Arts providing relentless routines in the freezing cold.

“Witches night” also saw highly accomplished dance routines by Drama Shed dance students inside the Fort with musical arrangements choreographed by Dance Instructor Nikki Le Count. These included Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells”, the theme tune to “Wicked” and the opening soundtrack to Johnny Depp’s “Sweeney Todd”. All were greatly received by a very patient, and very cold audience still managing huge smiles. “Stage size limitations and not knowing how kind the weather would be was a real challenge to us all, Nikki stated, “but we were determined that the last few months of hard work would have the desired audience reactions”.



Crowds were directed into the tunnels in the far corner of the fort and greeted by a Victorian style “London Bobby”, who instructed the “do’s and dont’s” of the evenings entertainment. After being terrified by a “Lunatic Asylum Inmate” screaming through the bars of an old gated “gaol”area, we were introduced to the interactive street scenes by announcements from an orphan “paper seller” shouting out key news headlines of the time (“Ripper Strikes again”, “Disappearances in Fleet Street etc.”). Compliments to the young actor, who was extremely convincing.

The atmosphere throughout was electric. With perfect street sound-effects, including horse drawn carriages and the drone of people about their business, combined with professional quality props and smoke machine effects, all added to the realism and imagery of a smoggy Victorian East-End.

Harrowing figures who suddenly appeared through the “fog” wandered around in character. A lady with a ghoulish baby stared intently at all passers-by, making us feel very uneasy; ghouls and phantoms hid in doorways and actors screaming and shouting at the occasional group had everyone literally on the edge in anticipation as to what would happen next.



Mrs Lovett (played by Jan Bull), introduced us to her horrific atmospheric shop front, laden with body parts and “meat-pies” and then lead the crowds through to Sweeney Todd’s Barber shop just next door.



An atmospheric red hue and barbers shop interior showed waiting “customer” (Kevin Watts). Sweeney Todd (played by Steve Hodder - founder of “The Drama Shed”) “suddenly” appeared from behind the wall with a huge Cut Throat razor, and in fitting with the sinister atmosphere gave everyone a real shock. Brief but effective dialogue between Mrs Lovett and Todd ensued, ending with the inevitable “throat cutting” act with, it has to be said, maximum shock factor. Very gruesome and well performed by the actors, and, with the added “projectile spurting blood effect” which I still struggle to understand how it was done, made this to be an excellent scene.



Atmospheric rooms were then passed, themed with a “Mummy”, “Grave-robbers”, “Victorian Children in a nursery” and a variety of creepy figures jumping out of doorways, nooks and crannies, scared many people into nervous laughter and screams of their own. The audience was then witness to an excellent scene with Jack The Ripper and his Victims. This was very well acted and brought the audience right into the performance. The actors were obviously experienced and dialogue well rehearsed



The atmosphere then increased again with the addition of well staged “Doss-Houses” containing Victorian tramps, beggars, thieves and “Women of the night” and a bar-scene with a choreographed fight with women fighting men, men fighting women and pick-pockets being thrown around. Fantastic!



The final experience of the evening was a well placed Morgue, occupied by a horrific looking Mortician and two Mortuary tables. As the crowds shuffled through, two “real-corpses” leapt up from the tables and gave us all a final fright with a blood-curdling scream. Unfortunately due to rain, this had to be changed on the Saturday evening through flooding, and any public attending on this night missed a great finale.



In conclusion, I have to fully compliment the organisers of the Coalhouse Fort Project as the whole event was expertly coordinated.

The use of “real” actors, combined with regulars added a sense of intensity in the performances and with professional props, and an interactive story-based theme, made for a thoroughly entertaining, extremely scary evening out, and one which I would not hesitate recommending everyone should attend next year.



How on earth will you top that guys??



- Wilf -


Please excuss me for having tears in my eyes.  
























Raymond

Very well done the pair of you. If there were more people around like you this country might still have an empire.

Did you find out who the dirty git was who grassed you up to the council?
Kas

No we never will.
At least we proved them wrong though.
Kas

Now on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy4r8X2HVOE
meiah

(smiling) funny how two years ago you didn't think you could do a public event.

This looks superb. Well done to all of you x
mark

yes well done   faba doooodle dandy
david hobbs

So now you have a new career.

I think with this sort of publicity you should approach other organisations and offer your expertise.  It would need delegation but why not?

Only this time for money.

Well done both of you, there is always demand for quality in life and you two deliver.
Kas

i wish it could pay the bills.
meiah

Why not?
david hobbs

Kas wrote:
i wish it could pay the bills.



I was serious.

How many couples do you think could organise to this level?
Kas

I'll look in to it then, thanks
Kas

Been giving this some thought for the last few hours and i like the idea. Might pursue it further. Thanks guys. x
Kas

Interview by Your Thurrock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TACubzjQzS0

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