The year 2013 saw the annual Boishakhi Mela move from London’s Brick Lane and Weaver’s Fields to a new venue at nearby Victoria Park. For the fifth year AP Security was tasked with stewarding the event.
The Mela is Europe’s largest Asian open air festival and the 2013 event attracted about 200,000 people to mark the Bengali New Year with parades, stalls, exhibitions, funfairs and live music.
AP National Sales Manager John Phillips says: “We have been working at major events in Victoria Park and the surrounding area for many years, so it was a natural process for us to bring that together with our previous years experience of the Mela. Of course that didn’t mean we could relax at all! We put many months of planning into the event, working closely with all the organisations involved to ensure everything from road closures to rapid response teams were managed effectively and with as little disruption as possible.”
AP says that it prides itself on building long-term relationships, so making a positive first impression is essential. This was certainly the case with event management company Ubique Leisure.
Ubique’s Steve Braden says: “This was the first time we had worked with AP Security and what a ‘smiley face’ team they were. Nothing was too much trouble for them, from helping with radios to quietly closing down a dodgy caterer with the minimum of fuss. The AP site supervisor Bob Quayle was great, he went way beyond his core responsibilities – helping us get the parade formed up and keeping the sub-contractors in line, as well as looking after his own team. AP is the best for service, best for delivery!”
The Boishakhi Mela Community Trust Ltd (BMCT) is commissioned to stage the event by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Its event manager Nassar Miahsays, “AP Security has been an integral part of the Boishakhi Mela in Tower Hamlets for a number of years. The BCMT has found AP to be outstanding, both in terms of the company’s service delivery, as well as its ability to meet the finer details of our requirements for a diverse community event. The fact that visitors to the Mela felt safe is testimony to the way AP operates. I give my unequivocal recommendation of the services of the company to anyone who wishes to engage it.”
Visit www.boishakhimela.org/
