Respect for National Flags

[andypat]

Would it be practical to display the flags on the same 'building site' fencing used to display results? .

Please no! This method was a nightmare to put results up in on Day 1 in the wet, and as you say, made the arena look a bit like a building site. Please we need to get results electronicised before 2015.

[DM]

The speakers were on a tripod with a small base. I wondered why they didn't blow over until I noticed they were tied down.

Using a spiral ground anchors or trampoline anchoring stakes every so often would have stopped the panels blowing over.

[Gross]

Personally I appreciated the effort being made even if it was not entirely successful. It is all too easy to gripe, esp. when not there to see what actually happened. When viewed as a dry-run for 2 years time I see it as a useful experiment.

I don't think expressing the opinion that national flags lying half on the ground is disrespectful is griping - wether you were there or not. My view is that flags of guest nations should be treated with the respect that the nations they represent deserve. You may of course disagree and are more than happy to treat national flags as you would a used towel and leave it in the grass

[Big Jon]

Only if actually taking place in Cuba. Thankfully we live in a democratic country .

Completely away from this thread but since it was mentioned - Cuba is democratic - just not in the same way as the UK

Does Cuba steal and store every electronic message that its inhabitants send - or is that a luxury only Democratic UK and USA enjoy?

[Sheila S.]

I certainly agree that the flags of the nations should be treated with great respect. As a Guide Leader I teach that as the flag of a country represents the people of the country, then trailing it on the ground is like rubbing someone's face in the mud.

As was said, the flags were a late addition, and for Day Five, with no advance warning, I was not able to plan a place to display them with due respect.

At every international Guide camp that I have been at, and both the O-Ringens I have attended, the flags have been raised up on individual flag poles with ceremony each morning. This is quite possible - my Guide Unit has a lightweight collapsible aluminium flag pole which we use at camp. It is easily erected, held up by four guy ropes, but I would guess that a screw in foot would be possible.

At Moray 2003 when I was event centre manager in Forres High School I decorated the school by making and laminating A4 flags of all 21 nations represented using coloured card, scissors and glue. Also 'Welcome" in 20 out of 21 of the languages. I saved them and hung them in the marquee at Crathes in 2005 but at the end of the week, by the time I went to gather them up someone had binned them.