SOUTHAMPTON INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW
All aboard Following the challenges of 2020, Stand Out chats to the organiser of Southampton International Boat Show
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t 18.34 on Thursday, September 10, 2020, an email landed in Lesley Robinson’s inbox. The time is engrained on Robinson’s brain. Why? That’s the time that the email from Southampton City Council issuing British Marine with a directive fell into Robinson’s inbox. British Marine, organiser of BOATS 2020, was forced to pull the event at the eleventh hour, following a last-minute decision by the council’s director of public health, to pull the show. Robinson, CEO of British Marine, describes the absence of BOATS 2020 presented by Southampton International Boat Show as “the rest”. She settles to talk to Stand Out about 2021 and the 52nd edition of the Southampton International Boat Show, acknowledging
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the challenges of 2020. “There was no need to be nervous,” she said, but the thought that history could repeat itself is always at the back of one’s mind. “Since the issues of last year, we have spent an inordinate amount of time working with the council.” British Marine wanted reassurance that the local authority would work closely with the organising team and act with proportionality if it did not believe that the show was meeting the agreed operational measures. Robinson commented: “We’re aware that Health Protection Regulations are still in place, but the world is in a different place and 82 per cent of our population is jabbed. We’re in a very different place than we were a year ago.”
COLLABORATION
British Marine worked closely with Debbie Chase, director of public health at Southampton City Council, and Mary D’Arcy, executive director communities, culture, and homes at Southampton City Council, to ensure that the nine-day event ran without a hitch. Furthermore, the show has grown significantly, spreading its footprint out into the city centre. Collaboration has been key, especially as the show had specific conditions of entry,
which included all visitors and contractors having to provide evidence of a negative lateral flow test (LFT). Southampton International Boat Show had a three-stage entry/security process, which included LFT check, ticket scanning and a bag check. “The council supports us in a number of ways,” continued Robinson. “They made sure that the five closest pharmacies to site had stocks of tests and also made sure that we had plenty of lateral flow test kits on the entrances.”
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