Forums > Help! > Persuading university to agree to us spinning fire poi

Login/Join to Participate

clairehelenBRONZE Member
newbie
6 posts
Location: Canterbury, United Kingdom


Posted:
Not sure if this is the best place to put this, so apologies if not. Basically, I want to spin fire poi one night this week with some friends, at my university, and obviously I could just go ahead and do it, but if we get caught by the campus safety people they may not be pleased. Health and Safety and all that. So, I thought I'd email them. Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to convince them it's safe and that we can do it without hurting anyone?

animatEdBRONZE Member
1 + 1 = 3
3,540 posts
Location: Bristol UK


Posted:
My warden in Halls at Hull uni was pretty cool with it. He used to come out and watch us... As long as we weren't irresponible he was ok. but hten, he was a pretty sound guy...

Emailling them and telling them your wishes is a brilliant idea. The people in these sorts of positions like nothing more than to be kept informed. as long as you tell them you'll be taking appropriate precautions, you shoul dbe fine. If it's on University campus, then it might be a different story. insurance will be needed...

Spinning for a bonfire night at halls should be fine, as long as safet y measures are taken, such as audience being kept far enough away by the use of a barrier etc etc...

Good luck, hope it goes well!!

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, or it can Crash.
Be Water My Friend.


clairehelenBRONZE Member
newbie
6 posts
Location: Canterbury, United Kingdom


Posted:
It will be on campus, yeah. I had a feeling insurance might be a problem, but we thought we could maybe sign something saying we won't hold the university responsible. We'll also spin one at a time, and have other people around as safeties. And we thought about putting up a rope barrier. I guess all I can do is ask...the problem is, if they say no, I'm going to have to go along with that, and I really want to spin!

animatEdBRONZE Member
1 + 1 = 3
3,540 posts
Location: Bristol UK


Posted:
Of course the university won't be held responsible if you burn something down, or even hurt somebody... rolleyes

It'll be you... Insured or no... Insurance will just mean if you do F*ck up, it can be paid for.

When i was spinning for bonfire night at one of the halls, The audience were kept well away by officials that had nothing to do with us. I didn't ask to spin, I was asked as I ran the Juggling society at the time.

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, or it can Crash.
Be Water My Friend.


clairehelenBRONZE Member
newbie
6 posts
Location: Canterbury, United Kingdom


Posted:
I suppose with bonfire night the university would already have insurance to cover accidents with fire and explosives! Hm, I guess all I can do is ask and see what they say.

AsenaGOLD Member
What a Bummer
3,224 posts
Location: Shatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom


Posted:
I had this dilema not long ago... so I e-mailed the uni... and asked. I got no response. So I followed it up about a month later. And they were like "we dont know who would deal with this kind of request". So I just grabbed my gear, and span fire. In the huge open field. Now normally, security are wannabe police at our Uni and are all over you for just playing laser questing around the houses on campus ( rolleyes Perhaps the drive bys were a bti extreme ) but they didnt seem to care. So I span again, and still no one seemed to bother.

So my advice is ask, if you dont get a response, ask again. If you still get nout, just go and do it. You asked, you tried, and its there fault for not replying with the word no. shrug

Stay safe smile

TabtI Doubt, Therefore I Might Be
1,007 posts
Location: Horsham


Posted:
at my uni we have sports insurace, so i guess if you have paid that you should be ok biggrin

Owner of Dragosani's right side.


[Nx?]BRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,749 posts
Location: Europe,Scotland,Both


Posted:
its a good idea to check, at my uni you couldn't have fire anywhere on the grounds, atall.

didnt actually stop us spinning for fun, but stopped us making performacnes.

T wave

This is a post by tom, all spelling is deleberate
-><- Kallisti


clairehelenBRONZE Member
newbie
6 posts
Location: Canterbury, United Kingdom


Posted:
Thanks for the replies. So, the question is; if I ask and they say no, do I go ahead and do it anyway and hope I don't get caught, or do I go along with their wishes?

newgabeSILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia


Posted:
If you ask and they say no, then you really need to abide by it: otherwise why ask? You would really p*ss them off forever and stop any later appeals if you just went against it.

One helpful thing is to outline your safety kit to them.

Basic fire kit:
A wet towel for putting out toys if they tangle or whatever.
A fire blanket for putting out people.
If you have one, an extinguisher just in case something else catches alight.
A bucket of water for someone to put their hand (head?) in if they get a burn.

A metal bucket with the dipping jar in it(helps with drips and possible spills)

A spin off jar for poi (easy to make: the bottom half of a used plastic water bottle is fine) See www.playpoi.com for instructions.. they take about a minute to make and majorly save fuel flying around and damaging people or grass, which could be a consideration for the college.

A small sign saying 'safety gear'
Peeps spinning fire in public should have those things anyway.

.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....


clairehelenBRONZE Member
newbie
6 posts
Location: Canterbury, United Kingdom


Posted:
Yeah, in the email I've outlined what we'll do to maximise safety, including having wet towels and buckets of water, and a rope to put around an area to stop people getting too close. We'll also have 2 or 3 people who won't be spinning at all.

I think you're right about abiding by what they say, it'll just be a shame.

MiGGOLD Member
Self-Flagellation Expert
3,414 posts
Location: Bogged at CG, Australia


Posted:
You oculd always spin glow, or other non-fire alternatives. Agreed, not quite as cool, but you could put it out as a bit of a promo...

"beg beg grovel beg grovel"
"master"
--FSA

"There was an arse there, i couldn't help myself"
--Rougie


[Nx?]BRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,749 posts
Location: Europe,Scotland,Both


Posted:
or just spin socks... fire is over-rated! ubblol

T wave

This is a post by tom, all spelling is deleberate
-><- Kallisti


FireTomStargazer
6,650 posts

Posted:
as newgabe + a tool not to spill any oil on the ground. If you present all that there should not be any reason to prohibit spinning - especially not when everything is moist and cold (like now).... By next summer you may have built enough trust to continue in summer aswell... smile



oops and stick to the safety measures on your toys: check them frequently, so no accident occurs from that side. Kepp them well maintained.. smile
EDITED_BY: FireTom (1161523649)

the best smiles are the ones you lead to wink


artindorilmember
117 posts

Posted:
Your other option is to start up a spinning group as part of your su. Insurance will be provided by the su and it's more likely to get others to come along.


Similar Topics

Using the keywords [persuading university agree spinning fire poi] we found the following existing topics.

  1. Forums > Persuading university to agree to us spinning fire poi [15 replies]

      Show more..

HOP Newsletter

Sign up to get the latest on sales, new releases and more...