Potential Site Location w/ map and photos

[Mike636]

If you spoke with a few local stores to help you with the start up event I know Patrol Base is in huddersfield which is close ish. There is also a bloke in Harrogate who recycles Hessian sacks which you could use as sandbags. I may be able to borrow a few fig 12 targets from work if you wanted to make a range

 

[Moose87]

You musnt have great credit then. If i knew you then i would consider lending the money lol.

 

[fivezerothree]

If you spoke with a few local stores to help you with the start up event I know Patrol Base is in huddersfield which is close ish. There is also a bloke in Harrogate who recycles Hessian sacks which you could use as sandbags. I may be able to borrow a few fig 12 targets from work if you wanted to make a range

Thanks ever so much – I may call those favours closer to the time! I'm interested about the recycled hessians. How the hell does that work? I thought they were biodegradable...

You musnt have great credit then. If i knew you then i would consider lending the money lol.

No I have terrible credit mate – fucked that up when I was a student and the situation was made worse when I was out of work for a 3 month period. There are other means.

 

[Moose87]

drug dealing???

 

[Nickona]

About the footpaths, while I know its a long shot could you maybe get the council to detour the around the site on both sides so peoples travel wouldn't be impeded and neither would the site..??

 

[Mike636]

The bloke in Harrogate gets all his hessian sacks from Yorkshire tea and sells them on to raise money for the rainforest. Don't know the man personally, just saw it on the news.

http://www.coneexchange.org/

Don't think they are degradable, not by much anyway.

Where abouts is this site? My dads a brickie so he should be able to get hold of some timber if you wanted to build a few sangars. I'm also free most weekends if you need a spare pair of hands

 

[fivezerothree]

drug dealing???

Haha loads of ways mate – I used to work in the adult entertainment industry. Still got contactzzzzz.

One option I am going to consider is kickstarter/indiegogo, or just plain begging.

About the footpaths, while I know its a long shot could you maybe get the council to detour the around the site on both sides so peoples travel wouldn't be impeded and neither would the site..??

I'm still yet to hear from the head of PROW (Public Right of Way) Dept. about how to make it safe, best ways forward etc. I originally had a 'fuck tha council' attitude but then realised they are just really nice ladies and gents if you be nice and they are quite helpful minions.

I thought that to get the public footpaths moved or re-routed would need me to own the land or at least lease on a long term basis. I don't want to bother the landowner much at all, just pay him for the privilege.

We will have to see but that is the most ideal situation!

The bloke in Harrogate gets all his hessian sacks from Yorkshire tea and sells them on to raise money for the rainforest. Don't know the man personally, just saw it on the news.

http://www.coneexchange.org/

Don't think they are degradable, not by much anyway.

Where abouts is this site? My dads a brickie so he should be able to get hold of some timber if you wanted to build a few sangars. I'm also free most weekends if you need a spare pair of hands

I was under the impression that hessian is naturally biodegradable? Nevermind. Thanks for the link buddy. The proposed site is approximately 4-5 miles north of Bury, Greater Manchester.

I'm not sure what the land permission will include yet. I'm crossing every limb for foxholes and sandbags. Anything else will be a huge benefit, but because I'm keeping the events under 28 a year it means the land won't be redesignated (from agricultural to commercial) so the limit on 'temporary' structures is somewhat a ball ache. Something I will look into further down the line.

I didn't actually think of Sangars.. they would be awesome in the old factory area to create an defensible objective. Probably best made out of natural stuff like trees though to ensure natural continuity.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

To help with the funding for start up costs and such, why not advertise first? Invite some airsofters down to help you plan the layout of the site; where cover needs putting, what to use to make it - stuff like that.

Once a few people have seen it, you can offer them a free game or something similar... IF they can bring 5 paying players to the first event. Also, running the event for about £15 will attract more people, you could say you were giving them a discount for the first trip, for being the first to play on the site, usual price £25, first time price, £15.

£25 is a bit steep for a brand new site, people don't know what they're getting so they might just wait it out to hear the news.

£15 is cheap enough to draw people in, but expensive enough for them to not think, "Oh that's cheap, it must be crap and under developed with nothing there at all if it's only a fiver" plus, if you call it a discount, it seems like a deal, so people will want to take advantage of it.

You could also offer membership for free to the people who come to the first 3 games, then after that, once you've got a member base, charge £25 for the year, to knock £5 off each visit, making it £20 instead of £25 for members.

That way, you could make a lot of money fast, the first wave of money will be people drawn in by the discount, then you'll get the next wave from people returning because they have free membership, then the 3rd wave will be from people signing up to become new members, because they've heard so much about the site, from the cheap prices, the fact you have a member base already and that you let airsofters help you set it up how they wanted it.

Simples.

35% cut please

Haha.

 

[Ian_Gere]

I visit Manchester fairly often, so I'd be interested to come play there. Priorities for me, apart from a varied skirmish area, are good friendly marshals and public transport to somewhere close enough to walk the last leg from, say 0.5Km. If these were in place, I may well cough up for site membership. That is one way of recouping setup costs more quickly than bi-weekly profits. Personally, if I get on with you f2f, I would consider a membership fee as an investment in future good times, with something like a promise of a free game or two later in your first year in return. I think most people would expect the traditional £5 Green Fees discount as members though, which is no bad thing as it encourages loyalty.

TBH I think that the footpaths are a serious issue however. No matter how under the radar it would be, you will need public liability insurance and the mere fact that members of the public have a right of way, regardless of any signage you employ, creates the very real possibility of someone losing an eye. The only way I can foresee an insurer's risk assessor going for it is if you screen off the rights of way with that BB proof green mesh.

Edit: oh yeah, you will not be able to get rights of way altered for anything short of a multi-million quid investment and probably the judicious application of slush money.

 

[the-sarge84]

Where about is it pal. I am a Preston lad so a close by site could be handy.

 

[fivezerothree]

I visit Manchester fairly often, so I'd be interested to come play there. Priorities for me, apart from a varied skirmish area, are good friendly marshals and public transport to somewhere close enough to walk the last leg from, say 0.5Km. If these were in place, I may well cough up for site membership. That is one way of recouping setup costs more quickly than bi-weekly profits. Personally, if I get on with you f2f, I would consider a membership fee as an investment in future good times, with something like a promise of a free game or two later in your first year in return. I think most people would expect the traditional £5 Green Fees discount as members though, which is no bad thing as it encourages loyalty.

TBH I think that the footpaths are a serious issue however. No matter how under the radar it would be, you will need public liability insurance and the mere fact that members of the public have a right of way, regardless of any signage you employ, creates the very real possibility of someone losing an eye. The only way I can foresee an insurer's risk assessor going for it is if you screen off the rights of way with that BB proof green mesh.

Edit: oh yeah, you will not be able to get rights of way altered for anything short of a multi-million quid investment and probably the judicious application of slush money.

I'm definitely going to get Public Liability Insurance – not avoiding that. Lancashire County Council are in our area a lot because the area is one of the largest in terms of footpath maintenance etc I might catch one of their guys and quiz them unless the dept. head wants a meeting sooner.

As far as I am aware a great deal of First and Only sites have public rights of way going through them. Public footpaths are like invisible spaghetti! I think calling ceasefires will be adequate. I could always have a box full of cheap eye protection on offer for walkers too just to be super safe.

Regarding moving public footpaths. It's actually been done a lot where I live to be fair. I wasn't depending on it anyway but I will find out soon.

 

[fivezerothree]

Where about is it pal. I am a Preston lad so a close by site could be handy.

Known as Deeply Vale buddy. In Google Maps type "Deeply Vale Lane". It's where they used to host huge festivals yonks ago.

 

[the-sarge84]

Ah sweet. Will look it up.

 

[fivezerothree]

To help with the funding for start up costs and such, why not advertise first? Invite some airsofters down to help you plan the layout of the site; where cover needs putting, what to use to make it - stuff like that.

Once a few people have seen it, you can offer them a free game or something similar... IF they can bring 5 paying players to the first event. Also, running the event for about £15 will attract more people, you could say you were giving them a discount for the first trip, for being the first to play on the site, usual price £25, first time price, £15.

£25 is a bit steep for a brand new site, people don't know what they're getting so they might just wait it out to hear the news.

£15 is cheap enough to draw people in, but expensive enough for them to not think, "Oh that's cheap, it must be crap and under developed with nothing there at all if it's only a fiver" plus, if you call it a discount, it seems like a deal, so people will want to take advantage of it.

You could also offer membership for free to the people who come to the first 3 games, then after that, once you've got a member base, charge £25 for the year, to knock £5 off each visit, making it £20 instead of £25 for members.

That way, you could make a lot of money fast, the first wave of money will be people drawn in by the discount, then you'll get the next wave from people returning because they have free membership, then the 3rd wave will be from people signing up to become new members, because they've heard so much about the site, from the cheap prices, the fact you have a member base already and that you let airsofters help you set it up how they wanted it.

Simples.

35% cut please

Haha.

Awesome advice and guidance – thank you.

 

[Mike636]

What about a door bell system on all the foot paths into the site with a sign stating that please ring bell to pass through the site and marshal can escort them

 

[Ian_Gere]

The thing that a risk assessor will say is that somebody who cannot read the sign/s and/or understand it/them may come along: a foreigner or a dyslexic, say. I dunno what F&O do, but I'll bet my arse they don't have unsupervised paths that lead into live skirmish areas.

The only way they could get insurance is to write a convincing risk assessment that included plans for supervision and/or a physical barrier to protect the gen pub.

 

[fivezerothree]

The thing that a risk assessor will say is that somebody who cannot read the sign/s and/or understand it/them may come along: a foreigner or a dyslexic, say. I dunno what F&O do, but I'll bet my arse they don't have unsupervised paths that lead into live skirmish areas.

The only way they could get insurance is to write a convincing risk assessment that included plans for supervision and/or a physical barrier to protect the gen pub.

I think they do have unsupervised public footpaths you know. You just wouldn't know it.

Personally I would trust operators to call a ceasefire if they spotted a walker in close vicinity.

All the while, these walkers can be spotted at least an acre or two away dependant on your position and they are not frequent, at all.

This 'issue' comes down to frequency really and I'm willing to spy a bit more on Saturdays/Sundays.

 

[fivezerothree]

Sorry just to be clear when I say unsupervised I mean there is not someone actively guarding it. The paths are all within sight and there will be marshalls there. The noise will be enough to alert said walker(s) of which all come from one direction anyway.

 

[Mike636]

To the HSE as long as you've made precautions as reasonably practical you are covered, so a barrier or a way that impeded free access so netting would do

 

[Mike636]

To the HSE as long as you've made precautions as reasonably practical you are covered, so a barrier or a way that impeded free access so netting would do