Woh – where to start with something like Party Paramedics, the Channel 4 programme about the @Open_Road SOS Bus and… booze that was broadcast on Monday evening? Probably by overlooking the intro, which featured a young lady from our town declaring:
“Welcome to Colchester, you sack of *****!”
This was always going to be a cutting room floor hatchet job of Sunny Colch. As observed by The Chronic last week, any show that trails Britain’s Oldest Recorded under the dubious blurb of:
“one of Britain’s hardest drinking towns”
…sets you up for the rough ride that is to come. The clue should have been in the title: Party Paramedics. Sure, we wanted the brilliant work of the Colchester SOS Bus to be explored and explained, but the volunteer paramedics don’t get any patients to patch up without the partying. You can soon see the appeal for Channel 4 in coming into our town to capture the best and worst of both worlds.
If we are trying to remain positive – and remember The Chronic mantra of there’s no point in making a list and then just moaning about what might have been – then we should feel proud that Party Paramedics came to our town. #Colchester actually started trending on twitter last night with all the kerfuffle. The online consensus seemed to be that the party side of the programme could have been captured within any UK town on a Friday evening. The paramedic part of the equation however can’t be replicated. We need to celebrate the SOS Bus here in Sunny Colch, and take this away from the car crash Channel 4 hit and run hatchet job.
Following the extreme profanity that introduced the programme, the more sober (yeah, right…) voiceover explained how the next hour was going to look at:
“Life on the frontline, with nudity.”
“Binge drinking was uttered in the first sentence, with more haste than it actually takes to down a double JD somewhere along the High Street. The Producers knew right from the start where to locate the lager G-Spot, and to tease the audience with hellish tales from the High Street, balanced with the happy ending of the work undertaken by the SOS Bus. Sound bites such as “my head needs patching up,” or “how do you revive an umpa lumpa?” became common parlance in the programme.
Filmed over “a typical hard drinking summer weekend,” Party Paramedics did at least put across the aims of the SOS Bus. We were told of how the ethos is to keep the injured out of A & E, and how parents often thank the tireless volunteers for keeping their kids out of potentially serious medical danger.
One of the more telling quotes came from an incredibly calm and understanding member of the paramedic team:
“You need to remain unbiased and neutral. Don’t pass judgment, because you might need the SOS Bus one day.”
The next hour unfolded as “5,000 party goers” let the rat run of the High Street, Head Street, St John’s Street and Queen Street become their playground for the evening and into the early hours. Casting a judgment as you stir your Horlicks is to cave into folk demons and moral panic agenda. These kids are young; they have money to spend and want to escape whatever it is that sees them through the waking hours around our town. The Chronic was there two decades ago…
The Party Paramedic scenes around our shared streets would have been unrecognisable for many non-night owls. This is a theme that was discussed at the recent Destination Colchester meeting, with an admission that guests from our two twin towns are horrified at what they see along the High Street at night when they come and visit us.
Never the twain ‘n’ all that, but the wider issue is one of shared social space, co-operation and more importantly, understanding. To turn a blind eye to the not so historic cultural legacy of Sunny Colch is to turn your back on the town. Factor in the importance of the nighttime economy [urgh] and you can soon see that this is not a problem, but an almost practical necessity in the way in which parts of our town has been allowed to develop and depend upon the party culture.
Perhaps the SOS Bus is the common ground that can unite both worlds? As well as the amazing volunteers being non-judgmental, there was a sense that this feeling was shared by the party kids that had come to be patched up. Lurking underneath the glazed lager smiles was a trust and genuine feeling of thanks for what others in the town are prepared to offer for the party generation. You get the feeling that the party mood wouldn’t be quite so respectful if the police was offering up a similar service.
And so as the pints flowed, the paramedics patched up and the programme continued to put Colchester on the national agenda via twitter, what conclusions can be reached from the car crash viewing that was Party Paramedics? Probably not a comprehensive council policy on how to progress with social responsibility and the necessity of the nighttime economy [urgh, urgh.]
No conclusions could be reached. Party Paramedics was as advertised in the blurb – a look at “one of Britain’s hardest drinking towns” through the gaze of the safety of your TV with the psychogeopgraphic [get you] spotting of the place that you call home.
The @Open_Road team came out with nothing but incredible praise; the party kids were doing what party kids do. Which is why we should be so proud of the SOS Bus here in Colchester. Pretty much every town centre transforms itself once the Weekenders do their thing, but not every town centre has the support of the SOS Bus to help to manage the situation. The funding for the SOS Bus comes from *some* of the local pubs and clubs, at least showing recognition from the people that profit from the nighttime economy [urgh, urgh, ugh] that a level of social responsibility is needed.
A selection of the tweets that got Colchester trending last night reflect the acceptance of how our High Street is transformed after dark, the value of the SOS Bus and the chasing of the audience by the Channel 4 producers.
I wasn’t expecting Party paramedics on channel 4 to be balanced, but for the record, this is not the #colchester I know
— Laura Welham (@laura_welham) January 23, 2012
I’m proud to come from Colchester but I’m questioning it at the moment!!!
— Graham Napier(@Graham_Napier) January 23, 2012
The #Colchester SOS Bus crew are an amazing group and a credit to my town! #partyparamedics
— Jordan Newell (@jordannewell) January 23, 2012
If you want to see the real #Colchester, watch yesterday’s Songs Of Praise. #neverthoughtidtweetthat
— Nick Barlow (@nickjbarlow) January 23, 2012
RT @slowlifeband: A lot of tools on this party paramedics programme. #Colchester isn’t all chavvy clubs though don’t be fooled people!
— Keep Colchester Cool (@coolcolchester) January 23, 2012
Oh dear, our #Colchester being made to look stupid by a couple of idiots. Top town this is
— Colchester Views (@Colchesterviews) January 23, 2012
I refuse to watch the #Colchester stitch-up. Up yours, Channel 4!
— James (@zemblamatic) January 23, 2012
You can find out more about the invaluable work of Open Road – and more importantly offer up a donation – over here.
The final word though has to go to our friend Snippet. His new single This is Essex is the perfect riposte to the slightly wonky Channel 4 portrayal of Colchester. Not everything is perfect, but this remains a great place in which to live and work. And play.
Party hard, party safe.
One Comment
The people in the show are not even paramedics. C4 is using the title wrongly to describe all first aiders when actually you now have to go through a 3 year degree to legally hold the title of paramedic.