Cartmel College announced the cancellation of the South West Big Chill, after health and safety requirements were not met. The announcement comes off the back of a successful hosting of the Ertz Cup, the darts competition Cartmel Men’s team and Cartmel Legends.
South West Big Chill, which the college has hosted intermittently over the past five years, was unable to go ahead on Sunday Week 4 as planned, because of the limited procedures in place to ensure that both JCR officers and students attending the event were enjoying the South West Big Chill in a safe environment.
Whilst organisers have told SCAN that nobody was to blame for the cancellation, it is believed that problems arose from LUSU updating its’ health and safety procedures to be more thorough, while some officers on the JCR were unaware of these changes.
Cartmel College President Tom Stapleton told SCAN that the cancellation was “all in the interest of safety.” “South West Big Chill was unable to happen in the time period we set as in the past there were limited procedures in place to ensure the students, and ourselves, enjoy a safe South West Big Chill,” Stapleton told SCAN.
Stapleton drew attention to the more lax approach towards health and safety in previous years’ South West Big Chill events. “The procedures followed in previous years were frankly laughable, as various items of equipment and electronics were simply unsafe to be used in this context,” Stapleton said. “This year there has been a more thorough approach to health and safety forms across all exec activity. Certain members of South West execs were simply not aware of the new, more safety conscious, procedures that have been put in place.
“Welfare teams, Social teams and all other exec teams are now standardised in the relevant forms needed for submission for such events to take place.”
Throughout the procedure, it is also believed that there was a lack of communication between LUSU and the relevant colleges.
The South West Big Chill was intended to be the final of seven events taking place during Week 4 to mark Mental Health Awareness Week. South West Campus’ event was intended to take place on the Sunday of the week, with other events including free food and drinks events, as well as guest speakers. The week culminated on Thursday Week 4, with the signing of the Time to Change pledge in George Fox Lecture Theatre 1.
The news of the cancellation follows Cartmel College’s successful organisation of the Ertz Cup darts competition. The competition took place on Saturday Week 4, and pitted Cartmel’s current men’s dart team against a Cartmel “Legends” team. To commemorate the University’s 50th Anniversary, the college also invited three notable figures from the darts world to attend the event. The guests included darts referee Russ Bray, former professional darts player Peter Manley and current professional darts player and World Masters champion Stephen Bunting, who goes by the nickname of “The Bullet.” The event took place in Barker House Farm to a large audience, with the student team finishing the competition as the victors, beating the Legends six games to five.
