Stewarding a March

Preparation

1. What is the purpose of the March?
2. Plan the route. Recce at similar time of day and day of the week. Take photos of junctions so that roadtake teams can plan. Consider alternatives in case you need to shorten or lengthen the route depending on numbers. In general we march in the same direction as traffic.
3. Docunemnt the route - Google MyMaps is ideal as it allows a team to edit it, add notes for stages and then share final route plan
4. Notify the police The law states 6 days in advance and you need to give name of organiser.
5. Plan main march benners, roadtake banners, other flags and visuals. Give as much notice as possible to the creative teams if new banners are required.
6. Will Samba/Rhythms or other bands be involved, do they have enough notice?
7. Where will the march assemble? Large open spaces are best as they allows crowds to assemble easily in sequence.
8. How will the march disperse at the end of the March, or is there another event that takes place at a specific time?

Media & Messaging

1. How will the march be publicised?
2. Create visuals and copy for broadcast channels, Facebook, press releases etc.

The day of the March

1. Recce the route again. Roadworks or other unplanned barriers have been known to occur overnight.
2. Check are all the banners and visual assets located
3. Are enough people recruited for raodtaking, have they been trained?
4. Are Stewards present and briefed on the march route?
5. Assuming the march is pre-liased have Protest Liasion connecte dto Police Liasion?

Starting the March

1. Assemble the march block(s)
   1. Front March Leader / Point Steward (who will be walking backwards)
   2. Empty space (area kept clear for photographers to get clear shots of front banner)
   3. Main Banner
   4. Slowest marchers (if not at rear)
   5. Body of march
   6. Samba
   7. Body of march
   8. Samba
   9. Tail of March
2. When march coordinator is happy, signal is given to start

Progressing the March

1. March Speed / Gaps
   1. Gaps are inevitable, you just want to avoid them getting too big as traffic will then try and get through
   2. Stopping and restarting a march i sdifficult, bettre to slow teh front right down to wait for gaps to close
   3. Communications from stewards along teh march length is criticxal to judge appropriate march speed - slower is better
   4. To communicate with Rhythms/Samba contact them via the Samba Shepherd (with a lamb on a stick)
2. Speeches enroute
   1. Avoid if at all possible as people will stop to listen and this will create gaps.
   2. One solution is to pause the whole march but only a small section near the PA will be able to hear any speeches.

Typical Issues

LIst themn here

Checklist