Only 4 Sleeps until the Finleys....

Is there going to be free water provided, in a bid for more responsible service of alcohol this year?

What about free alcohol provided, in a bid for responsible water conservation this year?

Of course

The water problem was a venue owner issue last year, it was NOT anything to do with the ITA. HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TELL PEOPLE THIS!!! Get a life.

I think you'll find that the theatre manager at St Mary's will disagree with you quite vehemently on that Robert. www.meltheco.org.au

...the ITA has only had....hmmmm....perhaps a dozen such comments since the last awards were held. Pretty sure it'll be bottom of the list just so people can enjoy slapping the hand that feeds for another 12 months. That way we can all enjoy another round of "We're sorry" followed by the reply "That's not good enough" followed by reply "We're sorry...really sorry" followed by "You law breakers" followed by "Please refer to our previous apology" followed by "That's not good enough - surrender your first born for execution you evil scum!". Personally it would have amused me to see them dispense with the problem by just not serving alcohol at all. Sorry, of course I'm joking - every attendee will be showered in water as they enter the venue. Taps have been installed and attached to every seat. The venue itself is a river garden equipped with vestal virgins toting enormous jugs of water and available at the snap of your fingers. A special sprinkler system will gently mist you in water throughout the award ceremony. The good lord almighty has been contacted to arrange a deluge over the immediate area. Failing that, native americans have been hired to do a rain dance and water diviners engaged to find new sources of aqua vita in the immediate area. There will also be a pool filled entirely with drinking water. Did I miss anything Kimberley?

So if someone was hospitalised as a result of lack of water, who would have been held responsible? The venue owner or the people holding the event?

The taps in the bathrooms were functioning so I don't think that there was ever a likelihood someone was going to expire from lack of water. The issue everyone seems to be hot about is that it is a licensing requirement that when you run a bar, you must provide free tap water on demand. If a bar hadn't been run, there would be no requirement on the part of either the ITA or the venue to provide water.....so your example ain't valid my friend 'cos if water was needed to revive anyone, it was on hand.

Well, its the truth. Direct from the archives on this site. Author: TylerJ Date: 28/01/2009 - 16:33 The ITA committee did make water available for those who requested it, although they were not selling bottled water. The committee also requested for the downstairs kiosk to remain open after the show, and were under the impression that it would be -- this of course didn't happen on the night though. Rest assured more attention will be paid to making sure non-alcoholic beverages are available before AND after the show for next year Smiling Clarification Author: Kimberley Date: 28/01/2009 - 22:59 To add to Tyler's comment above, there was a miscommunication within the committee, in our specific needs not being comminicated to the venue. We would like to thank Lady Wardle Performing Arts Centre, especially manager Lars Jensen for the fantastic assistance with all aspects of the evening. Any big event involving multiple organisations (and volunteers) is liable to have teething problems, I am sure that we will get it right soon. And hopefully you won't get Author: Teetotaller (not verified) Date: 29/01/2009 - 07:40 And hopefully you won't get arrested or fined for breaching Responsible Service of Alcohol rules. Can we have an end to this? Author: jmuzz Date: 29/01/2009 - 08:39 Seems like some people are taking the opportunity to rub salt in the wounds here. Clearly there was an error stemming from a miscommunication between the ITA and the venue itself. The belief was that water would be freely available and I'm guessing that next year the simple fix will be having jugs of tap water available in the bar area. Alternatively, if people want a crucifixion about this issue I guess we could just do away with service of alcohol all together? How about we just ban community theatre in Perth? That would save an awful lot of volunteers time and money wouldn't it? And it would certainly ensure we don't have a repeat of the problem. Too radical? How about the simple solution - accept the apology in the good grace it was given and SHUT THE HELL UP!!! Putting things in perspective when all the facts are known can be a difficult concept but God forbid we apply common sense to any issue anymore. It's so much easier when you're not creative to point the finger at those who are and tear down their efforts with your one liners isn't it Teetotaller? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone - I guess it must be nice to have never made a mistake in your life. Thank God we have clearly defined rules in place for everything these days so that we can delegate any personal responsibility to others. If the world was clear of idiots and the pernicious and invasive influence of conservative religious zealots perhaps we would have to accept responsibility for our actions like we used to not so long ago and legislation such as Responsible Service of Alcohol wouldn't be needed! Let it go teetotaller and your ilk - you're giving me a hangover. Normally, jmuzz, I do agree Author: Le anne (not verified) Date: 30/01/2009 - 14:06 Normally, jmuzz, I do agree with what you say, but I think this post was a bit off. Earlier it was stated that this is the first year that this has happened. I went to the Finleys in both 2008 and 2009 and both times it was at the same venue and both times, downstairs closed after intermission. Both times, I even asked after the show if I could buy anything non alcoholic and was told no, downstairs was shut. I appreciate that Kimberley addressed that point and said some people were given water, I'm just saying that not everyone was. So this isn't an isolated event with teething issues, it's happened 2 years that I know of, but as I didn't attend the Finleys previously can't say how long it has happened for. I could definitely understand it being the other way around and only serving non-alcoholic beverages after intermission, but you must admit that being unable to buy only alcohol around the time when everyone is driving home, is a bit strange. However, please don't think I'm kicking up a fuss and looking up various authorities to report this to - I'm not. I just got the impression from your post that you think all us non-drinkers are self-righteous and whiny. We're not all like that. And I can firmly get on board with the idea that this is only the 2nd year it's happened, and the first time no one spoke up, but now someone has everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon going "yeah our rights are surely being impinged upon somehow!" (this message board surely doesn't seem to bring out the best in people) and I'm confident that now it's been mentioned, it'll change. This is a very verbose way of saying: It's happened more than has been mentioned, even though I'm discussing it I'm not complaining, hoping it gets sorted next year, please don't hate all us non-drinkers. Point taken Le anne Author: jmuzz Date: 30/01/2009 - 15:50 jmuzz's picture I certainly have nothing against non-drinkers and you don't come off as self-righteous and whiny - quite the opposite in fact. What I took issue with was the TONE of tee-totaller's post AFTER there had been both an apology and explanation. I'm aware it's happened two years running - last year they didn't serve non-alcoholic beverage until the interval by which time we had attendees and performers gasping for water. This year I believe they clarified with the venue that non alcoholic drinks would be served before the interval only to have them shut down service AFTER the interval. Seems you can't win. Apologies if my post upset you. I trust you can take from what I'm saying that I wasn't suggesting non-drinkers whinge a lot. I simply think some people have rather enjoyed making Kimberley and the ITA squirm on this issue because they're the sort of people who used to pull the wings off flys as children. That's why I won't withdraw the post. I hate bullies. Leanne Author: Kimberley Date: 30/01/2009 - 16:45 I am a non drinker too and although I was not on the committee "last year" I was aware of the problem and we did try to address it. We spent probably a good hour of committee meeting time addressing it and making contingency plans if the kiosk was not to be open. Lets go into details, as people are not settling for "We're sorry." The committee member talking to the venue either misunderstood our instructions or misunderstood what the venue said to her because the instruction the bulk of the committee received was - "Don't worry about the back up plans, the kiosk will stay open." (The venue didn't say that- but this is what our lovely lady thought. Although she looks like an angel and has an angelic personality she is in fact human and fallible.) Yes. We stuffed up. Again, we are sorry. I had done a lot of running around that night. I would have loved a Coke myself. QED Jeff.

There is free water in the dunny?

...the only person that would have been responsible would be the person hospitalised, for being such an idiot as to not recognise they needed water that desperately and done something about it. FOR GOODNESS SAKE. GET A GRIP. Do you honestly think for one moment had anyone said "I really need a drink of water" to anyone on staff on the day, that that person would have said "tough, we're not getting/giving you any" or something to that effect? The stupidity of that comment really knows no bounds. If you don't like the way the event is organised, if you don't think appropriate care is taken, if you think the awards are rigged, or whatever petty ludicrous gripe you have.... THEN DON'T GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S A HOBBY PEOPLE!!!!!!!! GET A LIFE! Leave those for whom it has meaning and pleasure to it. If it doesn't have any meaning or pleasure for you, then bugger off. No one makes you participate. No one's life is changed one iota by any of this. In the greater scheme of things, IT JUST ISN'T IMPORTANT. /end rant

jmuzz I have just embarrassed myself at work by laughing out loud at this. You are wonderful. I imagine if we do what you describe people will next be complaining that they got 'wet' and then next year: 'oh I was too DRY' and so on and so forth. The nature of the beast, but thank god I've learnt to laugh and not take it to heart :)

My work here is done

Can we request that along with the water the ITA put a big neon flashing sign saying "HERE IS THE WATER" Can't be too careful y'all.

:) How about a pre-show announcement too? You know.."Please turn off all mobile phones, no flash photography and the water is located......." ;)

A risk asessment needs to be carried out on the strobic effect of the ' Flicka flasher' sign & the sugestive performance ramifactions of beats/second.

Oh tes of course Joe...silly me for forgetting...maybe they need someone wearing a sandwich board instead.