How was your Training Day?

[KayBee]

What was the best and worst parts of the Training Day(s) you attended?

I have just spent two days at Oulton Park and we had a great time marshalling the remote controlled model cars.

I also found it most useful to here the driver's opinion of the marshals and their view and reaction to flags. The driver who gave the talk also marshals so he was able to present both sides of the coin.

[Stephen Green]

Hi KayBee, I too have just returned from two days at Brands Hatch. I hear your day was cut short on Saturday because of the snow?

Saturday I was one of the IO's training on the fire ground in the cold, wet and often extremely windy day. On Sunday I was back for Observer training which I found to be quite useful. We did some good radio training and had some quite educational lectures from Dave Pierre who I find one of the best speakers I have heard in many years. He has the great knack of making the lecture amusing which in turn keeps you all awake!

I met Clair for the first time on Saturday as she has now joined the ranks of marshals.

All in all a good two days.

[andrew_powell98]

I was at the OP falg session and it was fun flagging RC cars but shocking to here how few flag points the drivers get a clear view. A real eye opener

[Claire]

I went to Brands on Saturday and had a great day it was well organised with plenty to do and gave me a good insight into what to expect (including the weather). I have never tackled a fire before and must thank Stephen for all his help, although I am a little nervous about my first meeting I feel a lot more prepared and I am now the proud owner of my first pair of rather fetching(not)orange overalls!! They will be having their first outing on March 24th at Brands. I would also like to thank Rszio396 for his knowledge and question answering as well. I have managed to find 13 dates when I can marshal and can't wait to get going. I look forward to meeting a few more marshals on my travels and making some good friends in the process.

[Stephen Green]

It was great to see you Claire. Please don't be nervous about your first meeting, remember that the marshals there will be as helpful as we were on Saturday. If you have questions, then just fire away at the other marshals on post, we all had to start somewhere! I'm not at Brands until after Easter but if you let me know when you will be there after 7th April I will try to get you allocated to my post for the day.

[Claire]

Thanks again Stephen, everyone seemed to be really friendly and I know that I will be ok once I get going. I am hoping that my first meeting at Brands after Easter will be Sun 28th April I think it is a 750 meeting. I look forward to seeing you then.

[Dave Brand]

Originally posted by Stephen Green
I hear your day was cut short on Saturday because of the snow?

Not so much snow as high winds, low temperatures & frequent hail showers. Reason enough to cancel the outdoor practical sessions; pity, really - we could have used it as course in treating observers for hypothermia!

Things got a bit chaotic at times with sessions & room allocations being changed at short notice. In our case, doing Incident Handling, room changes were the order of the day right from session one - something to do with the rescue unit's inability to get their van up the stairs!

A good day, despite the lack of practical incident handling - we were able to do a second neutral alignment/helmet removal session, which was useful. some of us manged to miss a short fire session in all the chaos - we got a longer lunch break, though!

[Chris Y]

Originally posted by Claire
They will be having their first outing on March 24th at Brands.

Hope you got some big baseball gloves too - to catch all the spinning Mighty Minis on March the 24th Just kidding - you'll be fine

[Richard Sneader]

Hello Claire,
I am glad you enjoyed Brands training on the Saturday and I was happy to be able to answer any questions you had.
I will also be at Brands on the 24th so you can ask to come on my post as this may help with your nerves a bit as it will be a face you recognise and I will show you as much as I can during that day.
But whatever post you do end up on there is no need to be nervouse as you will be with somone who is very experienced
and ask as many questions as you want. This is always a good way to learn. I tell all my trainees, If you dont ask questions then I get a bit worried as to why.
Take care and I will see you on the 24th.
Richard Sneader...

[Claire]

Thanks Richard I have sent my form to Alec so I will wait and see where I end up, look forward to seeing you there. Claire

[KayBee]

Claire I was the position you are in now - last year. I had just attended the Introductory Training Day and had a set of smelly overalls (proban) - hang them out somewhere (e.g. the garage) to get rid of the smell.

I was impatiently waiting for the first meeting and it seemed to take an age to come. The first day was bewildering but enjoyable.

I normally marshal at Oulton and on any new marshals first day they are taken round the circuit by a very experienced marshal. We were shown how the various parts of the circuit such as the med centre and control tower and the inside of the big red vans which you would never normally get to see work.

However, I don't know if the same system operates elsewhere but it helped you understand what goes on behind the scenes.

Hope your first day goes well!