Issue 30 July 2009 £4.75

Cornburycuts costsin recessionBy Christina Eccles

THE promoter of one of the UK’smost popular festivals has told howhe has been forced to make majorcutbacks to ride the recession.

The Cornbury festival inOxfordshire has seen ticket salesplummet by about 20 per cent thisyear – presenting Hugh Phillimorewith the headache of cutting costswherever possible without compro-mising the quality of the festivalexperience.

Cost-saving measures include usingthe services of Scouts and Browniesto pick up litter instead of the usualwaste recycling company – saving thefestival an estimated £20,000.

Hugh said: “Sales are down a bit butwe anticipated that so have reducedour spend on artists and infrastruc-ture. Last year our headliner was PaulSimon and this year we haveSugababes and Scouting for Girls. Wehave also configured the site for lesspeople so as not to waste money.

“But a good thing about having tocut costs is that it is making us thinkcreatively. We have never used theBrownies or Scouts before.”

Hugh added that the festival is hav-

ing to budget carefully and has beengetting comparative quotes to tryand get the best prices – but heclaimed this will not affect the feel ofthe event.

He added: “We are keeping thingstighter in terms of the site but we willbe keeping the nice little touches. Weare trying to make a smaller amountof money go further.”

Last year, about 12,500 peoplecame through the gates but this yearHugh said he would be happy with8,000-10,000. However, he saidalthough ticket sales aren’t as strongas in previous years, there has been alast-minute surge.

“We were hit badly with the weath-er last year and our punters havebeen saying that they are waitinguntil the last minute. Sales are nowcoming in thick and fast but verylate. We have had two local eventscancelled in our area which doesmake it easier.

“Anyone who gets through this yearand is still in business has got a hugeresult.”� How has your event been affectedby the recession? Contact ChristinaEccles on 01226 734463 or emailce@whpl.net

Touristhopes forfestivalsFESTIVALS and events areencouraging more peopleto choose the UK as a holi-day destination, newresearch has revealed.

According to figuresreleased by Travelodge,places such as the Isle ofWight and Edinburgh areset to attract large numbersof tourists this year – andevents held there are help-ing to draw in the crowds.

Out of those surveyed, 14per cent planned a trip toEdinburgh and 11 per centto the Isle of Wight.

Travelodge chief execu-tive Grant Hearn said:“Right across the UK it isclear that some locationsare going to gain a largewindfall from Britishtourists choosing to holi-day domestically ratherthan abroad.

“Both the Homecomingcelebrations and theFestival are clearly attract-ing people to Edinburghwhilst the re-addition ofthe music festival to theIsle of Wight has helpedattract a younger crowd.”

Crowd management and security will be among theissues dealt with by the organisers of this year’s XFactor auditions. The show has announced a change toits format where contestants will not only perform infront of celebrity judges including Cheryl Cole (pictured) but also a 1,300 strong live audience – presenting interesting challenges for the organisingteam. Look out for a special feature next month whenThe Main Event heads to one of the audition venues,Manchester Central, to see how things are done.

The Main Event is the official magazine of the National Outdoor

Events Association

3

EDITORIALGroup EditorAndrew HarrodTel: 01226 734639editorial@themaineventmagazine.co.uk

Reporters:

Christina Eccles (ce@whpl.net)

Mary Ferguson (mf@whpl.net)

Louise Cordell (lcordell@whpl.net)

ADVERTISINGGroup Sales Manager:Paul AllottTel: 01226 734484Fax: 01226 734478Mob: 07500 905717Email: pa@whpl.net

Assistant Manager:Adam ParryTel: 01226 734485Mobile: 07747 446923Email: ap@whpl.net

Sales Executive:Mandy MellorTel: 01226 734702Email: mm@whpl.net

Sales and Marketing Director:Tony Barry Email: tb@whpl.net

CIRCULATIONKelly TarffTel: 01226 734695email: circulation@wharncliffepublishing.co.uk

PRODUCTIONStudio Manager:Stewart Holt (sth@whpl.net)Tel: 01226 734414Group Deputy Editor:Judith Halkerston (jhalkerston@whpl.net)Tel: 01226 734458Graphic designer:Kyle Wilkinson (kw@whpl.net)Tel: 01226 734711

CONTACTS

www.themaineventmagazine.co.uk

18 Pages of Festival Round-up featuringevents including Download, Rockness,Chelsea Flower Show, Wychwood, MadFerret Festival and Forestry

Temporary Structures Pages 13-16Festival round-up Pages 17-34NOEA Page 35

Local authority spotlight Page 12

Why team makes sure

Blackpoolrocks ...Page 12

By Christina Eccles

THE organisers of a sold out festivalhave claimed it was a miracle theevent went ahead – after being forcedto change venues just days before itbegan.

With a week to go before 10,000 stu-dents made the journey to Cornwallfor Beach Break Live, the show wasdealt a huge blow by Cornwall coun-cil when planning permission wasrejected.

Organisers were then left with thedecision to find a new site – or tocancel the event altogether.

Fortunately, Port Lympne SafariPark stepped in and offered to host it,however, this meant a move from itsbeachside home in Cornwall up toKent.

To make the transition easier forfestivalgoers, organisers put on freecoach travel from Plymouth,Falmouth and Exeter or gave £15towards transport costs to those who decided to travel by othermeans.

Founder Celia Norowzian said:“There was a point where we thoughtwe wouldn’t be able to put it on. Wethought we had exhausted ouroptions and that was heartbreaking.When it all turned around it wasamazing.”

Celia had heard about the venue asit was due to host another festivalRed List which got cancelled earlierin the year so approached them toget involved.

Even though the safari park settingbrought a new element to BeachBreak Live, according to Celia, it wasimportant that the event still reflect-ed its Cornish roots.

To achieve this, they tried to take asmany suppliers with them as possibleand brought in sand, palm trees,swimming pools and hot tubs to

recreate the beach feel.With things being signed off just

days earlier, a co-ordinated approachfrom everyone involved was vital tomake things work.

She added: “We have got an amaz-ing production team and we pooledresources with people at the venuewho had been working on Red List.We were also lucky to have a loyalticket base.”

The team are now reflecting on howthey want to move the event forwardfor next year.

The team Picture: James Hooker

‘Miracle’ festival sells outafter last-minute change

Radio 1 Big Weekend is ‘the most interactive yet’THIS year’s Radio 1 BigWeekend was the most interac-tive yet – with record numbersof audiences going online andusing their mobiles.

5.3 million video requests werereceived to the website, com-pared to one million from lastyear and over 1.1million peopletuned into BBC Red Button cov-erage of the event, according tofigures released by the BBC.

New additions to this year'scoverage included six webcamsplaced around the site, whichprovided live footage from loca-tions including the main stage,the exclusive Live Lounge andan overview of the entire site.

For the first time, audienceswere able to select which cam-eras they watched, giving themunprecedented access to back-stage areas and unique per-formances.

Radio 1’s interactive editor BenChapman said: “This year'sevent was one of the biggest todate and I'm pleased that ourinteractive offering was able toreach so many people.

“We are always looking at howwe connect with our audiences,and this success marks thebeginning of an exciting year forinteractive services from Radio1 and 1Xtra.”

‘Pink pound’ promotionAN organiser in Torquay has found an unusu-al way of promoting his event – ‘pink pounds’supporting the upcoming Pride Torbay.

Gay venues across the Bay have been hand-ing out the stickered pound coins which givedetails of the event, taking place later thismonth.

Organiser Matt Newbury said: “We thoughtthe stickers would be a little bit of cheeky funto help promote the event, although it’s alsogoing to be interesting to see where the coinsare going to turn up.

“Will it show the diverse journey that thecoins will take? Will it show the variety ofplaces gay people spend their money? Or willpeople just peel the stickers off? Who knows,but it’s certainly got people talking about thecoins and Pride Torbay. As a charity event weare obviously on a limited budget, so we havebeen trying to think of fun way to promotethis fantastic new four-day festival.”

2 4

Live site willboost gatewayto EnglandBy Christina Eccles

PLANS to build a live site in Doverwill boost the town’s regenerationplans and enhance its events pro-gramme, according to Dover DistrictCouncil’s chief executive.

Nadeem Aziz said that although 12million visitors pass through Dovereach year as the gateway to England –it can be a challenge getting them tostay.

But working in partnership withLOGOG, the council is bringing a bigscreen to Dover which it hopes willattract events and as a result, visitorsto the town.

He said: “We have huge historicalassets – the white cliffs, the castle, theport – and global brand recognitionbut people tend to pass through.

“When the opportunity came along,we decided we would go for it inMarket Square and had a meetingwith LOGOG in January with plan-ning permission granted in April.”

The site is almost due to be com-plete and although there were initialobjections, the council is confident it

will be well received.One of the first events to be broad-

cast on the screen is a live opera feedand it is hoped it will also have someinvolvement in the upcoming Bleriotfestival, which celebrates the achieve-ments of Louis Bleriot – the first per-son to fly across the Channel in anaeroplane.

The screen will also be used forevents surrounding the CulturalOlympiad and actual 2012 events.

He added: “We had objections –there was a fear of screening footballmatches and a fear of how eventsaround the screen would be dealtwith.

“But change is always controversial.We run events and the communityget involved and a lot of fears aboutthe event management aspects aboutthe screen will go away.

“I think it will be a great opportuni-ty to add value to Dover and theregeneration plans.”

Other plans to regenerate the towninclude a fast rail link to London andcable cars linking Dover Castle to thewaterfront.

EVENTS company Ear to the Groundis celebrating after winning threemajor new clients – making 2009 thecompany’s most successful year sofar.

Umbro will be using Ear to theGround to promote its 10-year spon-sorship deal with Manchester CityFootball Club while PZ Cussons hasenlisted them as part of their 125thanniversary celebrations.

The company also worked withsocial networking brand MySpace todeliver a secret show starring LilyAllen in London.

Fans were contacted via text before

the concert to meet in Hyde Parkbefore being transported across thecapital by private red London busesfor an intimate show.

Creative director Steve Smith said:“At the moment brands are lookingfor more creative methods of com-municating to their audiences.Although we have been running suc-cessful events for years we are findinglive communications – the creation offace to face moments betweenbrands and consumers – are nowworking far more effectively than tra-ditional media when it comes to get-ting a message across.”

Directors Jon Drape and Steve Smith

Triple win for events company

2 6

By Dominic Musgrave

STATUS Quo will be the main attrac-tion at the Tidworth Festival, whichwill be held over three days for thefirst time this year.

The legendary rockers, who recentlycelebrated 40 years in the business,will headline the Saturday, with theevent beginning the previous eveningwith the Music in Flight concert.

This combines live classical musicwith display flying, which featuresplanes from World War II, wing walk-ing, aerobatic displays and hot airballoons, and culminates in a fire-work display.

Festival organiser Baz Reilly toldMain Event magazine that the com-mittee behind the event decided todo something different this year.

He added: “We purposely took ayear off and looked at doing some-thing bigger and better across threedays, rather than just the one.

“We thought the previous formathad reached a peak and that wecouldn’t get really do much morewith it, so opted to go for a big namethat everybody knows to try andbring people in, and we settled onStatus Quo.

“Everybody knows a Status Quo

song, and people of my age and olderhave followed their career for thepast 40 years, so they are a big pull.”

The third day of the festival willonce again be a family fun day, withThe Troggs headlining the main stageand a variety of spectacular eventstaking place in the main arena. Toattract more families a lot of theactivities and rides on offer will befree once the entry fee has been paid.

Baz said tickets are selling well, butnot as quickly as they had hoped.

“We booked a lot of the attractionsa year ago when the financial climatewas a lot rosier than it is now.

“When we first announced theevent we had a lot of people sayingthey would buy tickets, but it appearsthat many are waiting until closer tothe time and are watching their pen-nies.

“The response has been good, andwe are confident that we will getclose to our target of 15,000 peopleover the three days,though obviouslywe would like a few more.”

The event is organised by a charitycalled Community Dynamix Ltd, andafter deduction of expenditure, sur-plus funds are put back into the localcommunity.

Rockers headline at TidworthHot air balloon launch Status Quo

2 8

Catering company Eat to the Beat has celebrated its 25th anniversary with aparty themed and catered for by sistercompany Upbeat Event Design.The ball was held in Buckinghamshire as acelebration for employees and friends ofthe company.Eat to the Beat was founded in 1984 bymanaging director Tony Laurenson,pictured, and works on a number of eventsincluding Glastonbury, Leeds and the VFestival at Chelmsford.

‘Festivals will feelrecession next year’ THE festival market will cope thissummer but will feel the effects of therecession next year, according to oneof the UK’s best known event organ-isers.

Vince Power – who organises theHop Farm festival in Kent andBenicassim in Spain – claims that fes-tivals this year may go ahead as usualbut it will be more of a struggle tocome back in 2010.

He said: “Next year is going to behard. This year, the industry will getway with it because a lot of the majorfestivals were sold out before thedepths of the recession.

“It’s business. Some will survive and

some won’t but there will be less fes-tivals.”

Vince is currently getting ready forBenicassim – which this year hasmanaged to secure acts includingOasis, Kings of Leon and The Killers –and he also revealed the differencesbetween organising a festival in theUK and one abroad.

About 20,000 UK customers areexpected to head over to Spain forthe event and Vince said that atti-tudes are very different over therewhen it comes to events.

He added: “Spain is a differentcountry with a different culture.Spanish people are more laid back

and have a different attitude – peopleappreciate that a festival is in theirtown.

“Bands can also play louder andlater. We don’t have the same restric-tions on licensing conditions as inthe UK.

“The last act at Benicassim goes onabout 8am and it doesn’t start untilabout 11pm at night.”

Vince added that he feels Europeanfestivals are growing in popularity asthey are attracting a lot of the samemajor headline acts as events in theUK but can work out good value formoney with cheap flights availableand guaranteed good weather.

Olympics provide events opportunity for LondonHOSTING the 2012 Olympics willgive London the chance to show itcan successfully hold major eventsand the confidence to bid for more,according to an expert.

VisitBritain’s 2012 games strategymanager Chris Foy told delegates at aconference dedicated to the commer-cial opportunities from the Olympicsin London that the event is a greatchance for the capital to show what ithas to offer both as a stage for eventsand as a tourist destination.

He said: “Culture is one of the mainreasons why people visit the UK andevents add more reasons to visit.

“We need to use the games toattract business and sporting eventsand seize the opportunity to bid formore events. The Olympics can act asa catalyst to improve transport, infra-structure, conference and event facil-ities and accommodation. There isthe opportunity to show how we canhost events and bring leading indus-try figures to the UK and show the

quality of the business product.”Chris said figures have shown the

economic benefits of the Olympicswill be £2.1b – £2.9b for the UK as awhole and up to £1.47b in London.

He added: “Our role is to buildBritain’s brand and add value to bidsfrom destinations around the countryby supporting them and champi-oning the events sector. We want todeliver a world class welcome to visi-tors in 2012 and beyond and enhancethe image of the UK as a destination.”

9

VIP packagesproving areal winnerBy Christina Eccles

SALES of VIP packages are boomingas visitors look to enhance their fes-tival experience, according to oneorganiser.

James Algate, who organisesGlobal Gathering in Stratford UponAvon, said the festival has noticedan increased uptake of its VIP pack-ages, Cloud Nine, since they werelaunched at the event in 2007.

Visitors who purchase one of thepackages benefit from VIP entry tothe festival plus a range of benefitsincluding several accommodationoptions, separate shower block andwashroom facilities and free parkingin a private car park.

And James said this is provingmore and more appealing to festi-valgoers looking for a different andmore luxurious experience – partic-ularly those who are going to justone event this year and want to getthe most out of it.

He said: “We started Cloud Nine at2007’s event as we felt there was amarket for customers who wanted

to experience a festival but didn’twant to be with 30 - 40,000 othercampers.

“Our partners Live Nation werealready successfully doing it atDownload so we tried it and itbecame very successful.

“We are seeing our sales go up forthe VIP experiences – we are sellingtriple to what we were doing in2007.”

James also said that the VIP experi-ence is something which other festi-vals are also choosing to include inorder to give their visitors moreoptions.

He added: “There are always peo-ple who want to try something dif-ferent and people like the VIP expe-rience. We look at it along the samelines as a holiday – some people flyeconomy and some go businessclass.

“It is about giving people choice. Alot of festivals have now switchedon to the fact that some people whowant to go to festivals do want moreprivacy and a more personal touch.There is definitely a market for this.”

THE demand for luxury festivalaccommodation is still strongdespite the credit crunch, accordingto the founder of myhab.

James Dunlop created the upmar-ket festival accommodation – madefrom recycled plastic and water-proof cardboard while he was a stu-dent in Bristol – and last year it wassuccessful at 10 festivals.

This year even more events will beoffering the product and accordingto James, its success proves thatthere is still a place for the VIP festi-

val experience – even in challengingeconomic times.

He said: “We are extremelypleased by the demand for ourmyhabs, this is not only great newsfor us but also the entire festivalindustry.

“It highlights that people are stillspending their money on live musicand luxury products like myhab,even during these economic times.”

Myhabs will be on offer at festivalsincluding The Isle of Wight, The BigChill and Creamfields.

THE organiser of the Hop FarmFestival has revealed why he choseto steer clear of sponsorship andbranding when he launched theevent last year.

Vince Power set up the festivalafter becoming tired of eventswhere the festivalgoer was not putfirst – something which he has setout to change with his event.

Vince – who previously worked onevents such as Glastonbury, Readingand Leeds before selling his sharesin Mean Fiddler – told The MainEvent he hopes that the festival willprovide something for everybody –without visitors being disappointedthat they cannot gain access to cer-tain areas as they don’t have theright ticket.

He said: “I thought the customerwas being ignored slightly as lots offestivals have VIP areas and placeswhere you can get upgraded.

“I felt that festivals were over-

branded and oversponsored andthat was not to the benefit of thecustomer. I wanted to make a cleanbreak with one ticket for every-body.”

After the success of last year, thisyear’s event has been extended totwo days plus camping and includesperformances from the likes of TheFratellis, Pigeon Detectives and PaulWeller, a fairground and a five a sidecelebrity football tournament.

Luxury demand still strong

Why Vince puts the festivalgoer first

Vince Power

2 10 MIDDLE EAST

Olympics would transformDubai events industryBy Andrew Harrod

THE flourishing Middle East eventsindustry will be transformed if Dubaienters the race to stage the 2020Olympics.

A working group has been set up toexamine the possibility of Dubaihosting the Games as part of auda-cious plans to establish the region asa world-beating destination forevents.

The working group – made up ofgovernment and private sector representatives and led by the Falconand Associates company – will carryout a feasibility study before a decision is taken over launching formal bids to the InternationalOlympic Committee and the Bureau of International Expositions.

A spokesman said: “The Dubai 2020initiative will look at how we canshape our environment and societyfor future generations.

“It will address, in an integratedway, the building blocks that under-pin social and economic progress –sport, education, culture, business,science, technology, health and the

environment.

Dubai is also bidding to stage WorldExpo in 2020 too – a coup whichwould be ‘a unique proposition’,according to the official Governmentnews agency.

Qatar made a bid to host the 2016Olympics but did not make it on tothe shortlist of candidate cities. Qatarhad hoped to hold the Games inOctober to take advantage of slightlycooler weather, but that clashed withestablished deals for televised sportcoverage.

Alexander McNabb, a Dubai-based

marketing expert, said a DubaiOlympic bid would bring the emiratenothing but benefits.

“It’s an interesting and smart move.It’s great for the brand because it saysDubai isn’t sulking but is aiming forthe sky. It sends a very clear messageof confidence.

Should either bid prove successful,it would be good news for the eventsindustry – especially for UK contrac-tors who are already passing on theirskills and expertise in the MiddleEast.

One source told The Main Event: “There is a real will in theMiddle East to prove to the rest of the world that it can host thebiggest and best events. At theminute, that means the organisersare keen to learn from experts in theUK so now is a good time for businesses to look into winning work over there.

“The eventual aim, obviously, is for these oil-rich countries todevelop the skills and workforce theyneed locally but for the next fewyears at least, there are many opportunities for UK contractors and suppliers.”

‘There is a real willin the Middle Eastto prove to the restof the world that itcan host the biggestand best events’

Stars like Enrique Iglesias are already liningup events in the Middle East but if Dubaisucceeds in getting the 2020 Olympics it islikely to be a huge boost to the eventsindustry there.

11

HOMECOMING Scotland celebratesScotland’s strengths as a tourist destina-tion and as a place to host major events.

Annual events such as T in the Park andthe Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival sitalongside new events – some of them cre-ated especially for Homecoming – toencourage people with Scottish ancestry orthose who love Scotland to come home in2009 and enjoy what the country has tooffer.

According to Philip, Scottish tourism hasalways placed value on events and the rolethey play in attracting visitors but the con-tinuing success of Homecoming this yearhas strengthened this idea.

Philip said: “We have always consideredevents to be important but Homecominghas reinforced how important they are. For

repeat visitors it gives them a reason tocome back.

“We are seeing the benefits ofHomecoming as it gives a big message toamplify how much is going on in Scotland.

“There are quite a few events which arenot specific to this year but we have usedthis year to bring it all under the oneumbrella.”

Events are taking place all over Scotlandthroughout the year and Philip added thatpart of the programme’s success is thatthere are always activities and events goingon – to suit many interests, age groups andbudgets.

He added: “We have events across thecountry and have tried to spread them outthroughout the year – you don’t want allyour events at one time.

“The big message with Homecoming isthere is always something to do, particu-larly for UK visitors. It has helped to publi-cise what’s going on and made visitorsmuch more aware. The events so far whichare not one-offs have had higher atten-dances than in the past.”

Scotland has also been successful inattracting major events to the country –including the MOBO Awards, which aretaking place in Glasgow in September – aswell as securing events for the future.

Philip added: “Coming up we have theCommonwealth Games and the Ryder Cupand are continually looking at major thingson the horizon to bring them in. We alsohave homegrown events like theEdinburgh Tattoo and InternationalFestival – it is about having that mix.”

Scotland’s year of Homecoming is providing a unique platform for organisers tocome together and raise the profile of the Scottish events industry. Christina Ecclesspoke to Visit Scotland’s chief executive Philip Riddle

Why there’s no place like Homecoming Scotland ...

Philip Riddle

By Mary Ferguson

THE unique site used for Oasis’Manchester concerts presented secu-rity and stewarding challenges forG4S.

Held in Heaton Park, a public parkin the band’s home town, it wasimportant to balance the needs ofthose wanting to use the park andmanage access to the concert for feepaying ticket holders.

A temporary perimeter was erectedto create a barrier between ticketholders and non ticket holders andG4S provided over 800 security andstewarding staff to manage the entryand egress of ticket holders into theconcert area.

The public were permitted to accessthe park outside the concert perime-

ter but because of the concerts therewas a much higher volume of peoplein the vicinity than normal over theweekend.

To help ensure a positive experi-ence for those using the park andminimise disruption to local resi-dents, a number of staff were alsodeployed to patrol the park beyond

the confines of the concert perimeterin conjunction with local police.

Managing director Mark Hamiltonsaid: “In particular this size and typeof event demands lots of planningand an experienced team.

“A traditional venue or stadium isalways easier to manage from a secu-rity point of view than a green field

site due mainly to the temporarydesign of the infrastructure,entrances and exits. We have, howev-er, had a lot of experience of manag-ing crowds in less permanent envi-ronments and ensure we do it in away which helps people enjoy thenovelty of the site without increasingthe risk to their safety and comfort.”

ManagingManchestermasses

2 12 LOCAL AUTHORITY SPOTLIGHT

BLACKPOOL is currently goingthrough a period of regeneration –designed to build on its rich heritageas a well-loved holiday destinationbut also to make changes which willappeal to a new generation of visi-tors.

And as part of this, the town’s eventsprogramme is rapidly expanding.Sitting alongside well known eventssuch as the illuminations – which arestill a massive draw for visitors – arenewer events such as the out2danceand Showzam! festivals.

There is also a new major eventsprogramme in place – funded by theNorthwest Regional DevelopmentAgency – which aims to sustainevents through the regenerationprocess.

According to Visit Blackpool’sevents development manager ClaireTurner, this events programme isworking successfully to attract visi-tors to Blackpool and is helping thetown to gain a positive image as aplace to visit and to live.

Claire said: “Perceptions are verymuch changing and we are startingto bring in new audiences. People arestarting to rediscover the Blackpoolthat has been a bit forgotten.”

A detailed year round events pro-gramme is acting not only as a touristdraw but also as something forBlackpool’s residents to engage in –which the team feel is vital.

Claire added: “It is important thatnot everything is for the visitor. It’snot just about residents taking partbut also about how they can benefitfrom the events.”

As part of this, the council has

formed links with local event man-agement students and encouragesartists who are appearing in shows inBlackpool to go into schools anddeliver workshops.

However, although building workand new projects are signalling thestart of a new era in Blackpool, cop-ing with the disruption and fittingevents around it is not without itschallenges.

“While it is incredibly positive, itcan be difficult with the regenerationwork because of practicalities interms of the logistics.

“We have to have that vision to beable to look at a space that we maynot consider using and how we canturn it into a great visitor experience.We have to start thinking creatively.

“There is a real excitement aboutevents in Blackpool and a sense ofworking together. There is an antici-pation for the works to be finishedand we are continuing to build onour programme and look at newevents.”

When it comes to events in Blackpool, one thing that springs to mind is the annual illuminations. Butwhat else does the town have to offer and how is the council’s events team changing perceptions of oneof the UK’s best known seaside resorts? Christina Eccles found out.

Blackpool rocks ... thanksto council’s events team

out2dance is one of the newest events

Bid to free upevent spaceSOMETHING which the council isparticularly keen to do is find morespaces suitable to host major events.

Currently five headlands are beingbuilt around Blackpool – includingone directly underneath BlackpoolTower – which will be able to hostyear round outdoor events for up to20,000 spectators.

Media, film and events co-ordinatorMike Chadwick added: “The TowerEvents Headland is under construc-tion and we hope it will open inSeptember 2010.

“It is such an iconic position rightunder Blackpool Tower and we canalso close the road so people canmove more freely.”

Blackpool suppliers� Production: Nine Lives Productions,Andy Cheeseman Productions� Marquees: Smiths Marquees, Field andLawn� Road Safety: Road Safety Services

� Security: Northern Security, G4S� Communications: Corrys� Sound and Lighting: AP Audio, TheProduction House� Staging: Stageworks, ManchesterLight and Stage� Screens: Light Media Displays

Blackpool’s flagship event isits annual illuminationswhich attract millions of visitors to the town everyyear. The illuminations season runs fromSeptember to Novemberand highlights include acelebrity switch on ceremony and Ride theLights – where visitors cancycle along the promenadeto enjoy the lights in atraffic free environment.

Showzam!successONE of Blackpool’s most successfulevents is the Showzam! festival whichhas run for the last two years.

The festival is on in February andaccording to Claire and Mike, hasproved a successful way of drawing invisitors outside of the traditionalsummer season.

This year’s events programme forShowzam! included:� A carnival ball at Blackpool TowerBallroom� A Circus of Wonders� A family variety show� A festival parade

Claire added: “Showzam! has seen afantastic growth.

“We have seen a 150 per centincrease in visitors, a 50 per centincrease in overnight stays and a 200per cent increase in resident engage-ment.

“There has never been anythingdone in February half term but if youcan develop something people willenjoy then they will come – we haveproved that in October with the illu-minations.

“October half term is massive andthere has been a clear uplift inFebruary half-term.

“Events are starting to have a realimpact across the year and we are giv-ing people other reasons to come toBlackpool.

“There is the potential to extend theseason and that is why we chose tocall our major events programme365.”

THE major events programme hasbeen divided into five themes whichallow the town to showcase itsstrengths:� Dance – the out2dance festivaltook place in May. Dance is per-formed at indoor and outdoor venuesthroughout Blackpool to make itaccessible for everyone.

This category also reflects Blackpool’sgreat reputation in this area as thehome of world class ballroom danc-ing.� Circus magic and variety comedy– events reflecting the town’s richentertainment heritage.� Fire and light – the town is thehome of the World Firework

Championship.� Heat the streets – bringing bothUK and international artists out intothe town to show off different formsof entertainment.� Beach sport – Blackpool has host-ed championships in beach volleyballand kite surfing.

Left:Beachvolleyballand, right,the WorldFireworkChampion-ship

Town turns tide with themes

2 14 TEMPORARY STRUCTURES

DE BOER unveiled the latest addi-tions to its range of structures at theParis Air Show.

‘Vista by De Boer’ incorporateshigh-end wall systems based on hori-zontal panoramic glass panels, pro-viding a dramatic facade to many ofits most popular structures includingthe Panorama, Emperor, DeltaEmperor and Alu Halls.

For the centenary InternationalParis Air Show, De Boer supplied a‘Delta Vista’ structure for Frenchcommunications agency Seditas andits client Thales Group – one of theworld’s leading aerospace, defenceand security companies.

Seditas was responsible for the cre-ative concept, design and build of

Thales’ impressive exhibition hall atLe Bourget which was situated in a1200-square metre, six-metre-highstructure.

Patrice Pic, director of Seditas, said:“With the Delta Vista, De Boer hasprovided us with a visually attractivebut also efficient space solution thathas no additional columns inside.Both the product and the service ofDe Boer have absolutely lived up toour expectations.”

De Boer is already gearing up fornext year’s FarnboroughInternational Airshow which is thecompany’s largest single constructionproject in Europe. It provides 100,000square metres of temporary accom-modation for exhibitors and visitors.

Latest additions unveiledat Paris Air Show

TEMPORARY structures for some ofthe UK’s most popular events will beprovided by GL Events Owen Brownand Snowdens.

Owen Brown has been providingstructures for the V Festival atStaffordshire’s Weston Park for overseven years and have a rolling threeyear contract with the event’s organ-isers.

The company will be supplyingalmost 3,500sqm of hard and softsided structures, being used for a

range of applications at the site.Sister company Snowdens will also

be busy – supplying tentage at eventsincluding Coventry’s Godiva Festivaland Latitude in Suffolk.

Sales director Keith Bishop said:“Both Snowdens and Owen Brownhave a long tradition of serving thisimportant sector of the events indus-try. We have a lot of expertise in thisarea, a dedicated team and a greatproduct range which meets therequirements of show organisers.”

Dedicated team has expertise

2 16 TEMPORARY STRUCTURES

PIGGOTTS Marquees are having avery busy summer season with prestigious events such as Polo InThe Park at The Hurlingham Cluband The Duke of Essex Polo Cup inEpping.

The company is also planning itsevents calendar for later in theyear.

Business development managerRichard Treml said: “The second halfof the year looks like being as busy asour summer season has been.

“We will be providing various structures for the first time at TheBlenheim International Horse Trialsin September as well as structures forvarious Christmas party venues andtemporary ice rinks.

“In addition to these we also have alarge number of longstanding eventsto service.”

Busy times for marquee firm

WILTSHIRE-based SpecialistStructures Ltd provides clients withan individually-tailored service, usingtheir SPACE building system to createversatile robust temporary event ven-ues suitable for year round use, bothindoors and outside.

Based on a 5m by 5m grid, the mod-ular nature of the SPACE buildingsystem allows clients to specify theshape, size and functionality of theirvenue – anything from a 5m x 5mkiosk, to a 40m wide unique partyvenue.

Catering areas, toilet facilities,stages, dining rooms and pre-dinnerfoyers can all be located where theclient wants them, rather than beingdictated by the confines of a perma-nent venue.

Recent product development at SSLhas focused on enhancing the loadbearing capacity of their structures,and the new ‘Space Anchor’ compo-

nent now enables SSL to build largerclear span structures, which in turnallow clients more choice in terms ofstand layout.

The use of lightweight yet extremelystrong aluminium extrusions alsomeans that the system can be used tocreate stunning structures up to fourstoreys in height.

This ability is unique to SpecialistStructures and was used to greateffect at the Farnborough Air Showlast year, where two four storey struc-tures designed and built by SSL dom-inated the skyline of this, the world’slargest temporary exhibition.

Sloping sites, limited space, interiorapplications and short assemblytimes can all be accommodated.Most importantly in the coolermonths, SSL’s structures can be effi-ciently climate controlled to ensurean ideal ambient temperature within,whatever the weather outside.

Firm gives individual service

The companycreates versatile robusttemporaryevent venues

WATKINS Hire Events are rapidlybecoming well known not just withinthe events industry for the quality oftheir equipment and project management, but also on newdesign and innovations they areintroducing to the air conditioning,heating and power supply services.

With this in mind the team haveannounced the latest edition to oneof the youngest hire fleets in Europe.

It’s the new 100kw trailer mountedheat pump, which in essence allowsthe end user to switch from air conditioning to heating at the pressof a button.

The ease of use, and most impor-tantly speed in which the unit can beinstalled and removed will prove abig hit with event organisers andstructure companies across the UKand Europe.

Project Manager James Bowers

said: “We specifically designed this unitfor ease of trans-portation into sitesthat have limited access, forexample city centres or projects that are off the beatentrack.

“Coupled to a trailer mounted generator, from ourselves, it is a brilliant package that workssuperbly in all conditions and againshows our commitment to the eventsindustry that Watkins are here tochange the standards so many people have had to put up with inthe past and raise the bar when it comes to temperature con-trol.”

With air conditioning ranging from2kw to 750kw and heating from 3kwto 1000kw there really is nothingthat the Watkins team cannot provide, manage and service for anyevent.

WATKINS Hire Events – the air conditioning, heating and power supply specialists are pleased toannounce yet another new arrival totheir already hugely experiencedteam.

Steve Platt has joined both GrahamEvans and James Bowers to furtherexpand the project managementteam and brings with him over 15

years of experience within the tem-perature control industry.

Events director Graham Evans said:“Steve is a fantastic addition toWatkins, his vast experience onevents, project management skills,attention to detail, knowledge andenthusiasm will further increase ouralready excellent reputation withinthe events industry.”

Cool companyis hot ondesign andinnovations ...

Watkins welcomesSteve to the team

By Christina Eccles

WITH fears over the economy and afterseveral festivals being cancelled alreadythis year, many people have cautiouslybeen waiting for the summer event season to begin.It is now in full swing – with establishedevents such as Download and Rocknesstaking place alongside newer ones suchas Mad Ferret in Manchester.And from the point of view of bothorganisers and fans it seems that,despite the worries, so far things aregoing well – with even the unpredictableBritish weather managing to behaveitself.In the first of our special festival roundups for 2009, The Main Event visits festivals old and new to discover howeverything went this year and thesecrets behind hosting some of the UK’smost successful and popular events.

Fans forgetthe gloom ...

Download

Download

Rockness

Wychwood

2

The Queen during a visit to the show

SUPPLIERS at the event included:Allsignsgroup – SignageARB Piccadilly – Staging and PAArena Structures – MarqueesAscot Structures – MarqueesBrandon Tool Hire – Equipment hireand purchaseCBA Ltd – Telecoms SupplierCranborne House Productions –Operational SupportDe Boer Structures (UK) LtdMarquees – Great PavilionEquinox Security Management Ltd –SecurityEve Trakway Ltd – Vehicle TrackwayEvent & Exhibition Partnership –Safety Stewards

Exhibition Traffic ManagementServices –Traffic ManagementExpo Floors Ltd – Flooring and shellschemeExpress Cafes/P & C Morris Catering– Mobile Catering Fence Hire (Southern) Ltd – FencingGL Events Owen Brown – MarqueesGT Trax – Rubber MatsHi Pro Scaffolding Ltd – ScaffoldingJohn Deere Ltd – BuggiesJSB Management Services –Furniture coordinatorJust Loos.com Ltd – Mobile ToiletsMobile CCTV Ltd – CCTVPeppermint Bars Ltd – Cash MachinesRed Box Fire Control – Fire Safety

EquipmentSagum Events Ltd – Waste, cleaningand general site contractorSeatum Theatre, Sport & ConcertTickets UK Ltd –TicketingSelect Services Intl. Ltd – Health &SafetySGB Eventlink – TurnstilesShow Site Services Ltd – Water/PlumbingSodexo Prestige – CateringSpecialist Structures Ltd – TentsSteeldeck Rentals Ltd – Deckedpedestrian walkwayThorns Group Plc – FurnitureTT Tents – MarqueeWernick Event Hire – Cabins

Chelsea Flower Show contractors’ list

CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

THE biggest change to this year’sannual event organised by the RoyalHorticultural Society was the num-ber of large show gardens almosthalving due to sponsors pulling out.

But Alex, for whom this year’sevent was her third, told Main Eventmagazine it gave them the opportu-nity to change the layout and intro-duce more smaller urban gardensand a new talks theatre.

She added: “It went brilliantly.Many predicted that it would be atricky year for us, but we seem tohave pulled it out of the bag, and thetickets even sold out earlier thanthey did last year, which was amaz-ing.

“The early responses we have hadfrom the traders also indicate thatmany saw an improvement on lastyear.

“We were slightly worried with thereduced number of the larger showgardens, but what was a negativeturned out to be a positive as I thinkpeople can take more inspirationfrom the smaller gardens.”

The build up to the show was badlyaffected by the weather last year, but

Alex said there was no repeat of theheadaches this time around.

She added: “It went like a dreamfrom start to finish, and we hardlyhad any rain in the build up to theshow, which made it easy to build.

“The biggest challenge for my teamcame at the planning stage inFebruary and March when we had tochange the layout of the show-ground quite close to going on thesite.

“Everything else seemed to hold upwell apart from the corporate ele-ment of the show, where the num-bers in hospitality were down on lastyear, but not so much that we needto worry.”

Security was also tightened at thisyear’s show for exhibitors gainingaccess to the show, with wristbandsreplacing badges.

Alex said: “We thought moving towristbands would cause problemsand there were a few minor teethingissues, but overall it worked well.

“The idea behind wristbands wasto improve security because badgescan be forged a lot easier.”

And she says plans are already wellunderway for next year’s event.

“Judging by the number of tele-phone calls that we have alreadyreceived from prospective tradersand exhibitors next year’s show willbe as big as ever,” she added.

The Chelsea Flower Show beat the recession and tickets sold out a day earlier than last year. Dominic Musgravespoke to organiser Alex Baulkwill about the secret of its success.

Show blossoms despitesponsors pulling out ...

Alex Baulkwill

CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

Sienna Miller

2 20 CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

THE team at De Boer worked on amilestone project – creating the mainexhibition venue for the RHS ChelseaFlower Show for the 10th successiveyear.

The company first introduced itsmodular Delta System structures tothe international event in 2000 whenorganisers broke with decades of tra-dition by abandoning the show’s for-mer canvas-style exhibition space.

The temporary venue – in thegrounds of Chelsea’s historic RoyalHospital – was named the Great

Pavilion by show organiser the RoyalHorticultural Society and has sincebeen the setting for the launch ofnearly 500 new plants and flowers.

De Boer project manager Liz Routhsaid: “The arrival of De Boer’s modu-lar Deltas in 2000 marked a monu-mental break with tradition for theworld’s most famous horticulturalcelebration. The fact that De Boer’sstructures are now returning toChelsea for the 10th successive yearshow just how much they havebecome part of this great event.”

Crowds enjoy the show and the sunshine.

De Boer returns for 10th successive year

THIS year’s Chelsea Flower Showwas the greenest yet, with more than90 per cent of the 600 tonnes ofwaste generated over the week recy-cled.

The event’s carbon footprint wasmeasured for the first time this year,and a number of materials that areharmful to the environment such asgas patio heaters were banned.

Alex Baulkwill said: “We recycledmore than 80 per cent of our wastelast year, but we wanted to go that

step further at this year’s show.“We worked with a large recycling

facility based in North West Londoncalled Powerday’s, who took away allsorts of our waste and their own fig-ures suggest that they will recyclearound 98 per cent of it, but we willbe delighted with more than 90.

“After the show the LondonCommunity Recycling Network alsotook away a lot of products thatwould otherwise have probablyended up in a skip or have had to

travel a long way back to their origi-nal source. They will use it in com-munity projects throughoutLondon.”

A new reuse scheme was launchedthis year in the build up to the showfor exhibitors to swap any excessmaterials they may have with others.

Many of the showgardens them-selves also find new homes after theshow, with an award winning cre-ation sold on an online auction siteto raise money for charity.

SHOWSITE dismantled their equipm-ment from the Chelsea Flower Show –and headed straight off to set up atthe Hampton Court Palace FlowerShow.

The company was brought in toensure a wholesome water supply tothe event and this involved carryingout biological tests on around 30samples throughout the show.

The Showsite team included AndyCrook, Tony Crook and threeplumbers. Their first job involved fill-ing underground storage tanks whichsupplied the site.

Demands for water grew asexhibitors moved onto the site andthey needed a ready supply for waterfeatures.

Then there were toilet blocks to sup-ply and with 70 per cent of the show’saudience being female, that meantsupplying water for a fleet of 120ladies’ cubicles and 80 gents’ as wellas disabled units.

Seven temporary kitchens also hadto be equipped with hot and coldwater. And once the system was upand running, it had to be maintainedfor the duration of the event.

The greenest show yet ...‘We worked with a largerecycling facility based in North West Londoncalled Powerday’s,who took away all sorts of our waste andtheir own figures suggestthat they will recyclearound 98 per cent of it,but we will be delightedwith more than 90’

Bloomingbusy time forwater team

CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

2 22 DOWNLOAD

MAKING sure as many incidents aspossible could be dealt with onsitewithout taking patients to hospitalwas a priority for the team at EventMedical Services.

About 140 staff were onsite atDownload – a mixture of doctors,nurses, paramedics and radiogra-phers – who aimed to provide themost comprehensive service – whichincluded X Rays – without the needfor patients to leave the festival.

Medical director Matt Robbinsexplained: “The festival is the size of amoderately sized town and our aim isto provide duplicate, quality healthcare.

“It is very easy to ship everything off

to hospital but it is not good for thelocal hospital, festivalgoers, localpeople or the organisers. We aim tominimise the impact on the localhealth service.

“We experimented with X Rays lastyear and it made a big impact inreducing the number of cases goingto hospital.

“Last year we saw about 1,500patients over the weekend and lessthan 20 of them were removed tohospital.

“Festival medicine is different toanything else we do. The implicationsof putting someone in plaster andcrutches is very different in the mid-dle of a field.”

Medical director Matt Robbins

Healthcare in a field ...

A CHANGE to the site layout for 2009meant a capacity of up to 80,000 peo-ple for the main stage plus up to35,000 for the second stage, whichhad previously been limited tobetween 12,000 and 17,000.

Festivalgoers at Donington Parkenjoyed performances from headlin-ers Faith No More, Slipknot and DefLeppard as well as a range of actsover the festival’s four stages.

According to Paul Cook – organiserLive Nation’s health and safety man-ager – this change meant a new feelfor Download this year – somethingwhich seemed to be go down wellwith festivalgoers.

He explained: “We have a reallyactive forum and the feedback fromthere was that they weren’t on thegrass as much last year as before.

“With arrangements for theFormula One motor racing on site,we looked at where we could use yearon year. We looked at what was carparking and moved there.

“This means we have a fantasticopen area for the main stage andstage two has its biggest capacity. Wealso managed to extend camping to57,500 spaces.”

Another change for this year was anew event control room which waspraised by all the people allocated towork in there.

The building was open from theWednesday morning before the festi-val to the Monday after it finishedand is run 24 hours. It included coverfrom the police, fire, ambulance,local authority, security and the pro-

moter.Paul added: “We have got a nice big

facility and that makes a big differ-ence – it is the best we have had sofar.

“We have a good relationship withthe local authority and every monthwe have a planning meeting. We workwith really good contractors andagencies at Download.”

Download is one of the UK’s most popular festivals – with a loyal fan forum alwayskeen to have its say. Christina Eccles caught up with organisers and suppliers on siteto discover how everything went this year ...

Live Nation’s Paul Cook

Upbeat feel at Download ...Security Arena ShowsecSecurity Campsite G4SSecurity Car Parks SafestyleStaging Star Events GroupSound SSE / Skan PA / Stage Audio ServicesMedical Events Medical Services LtdCCTV SpindlewoodTrackway & Heras Eve Trakway, T Shield FencingEntertee & SteelshieldPower Buffalo & BRMLighting PRGWater & Plumbing TempsiteBigtops A&J BigtopsTents Field & LawnCommunications Chris Beale AssociatesRadios NRBCrew Catering Eat to the BeatBarriers MojoCleaning Ryans Event CleanSite Crew Rock City CrewLocal Crew Stage Wolves, Stagecraft, StageAllianceLockers & Showers A1 MobileToilets PTLCabins & Trailers SearchDisabled Platforms SGBHospitality Catering Sanctum EventsHospitality Marquees PapakataConcessions D&J CateringBars Management Stephen FreemanConcessionsFire Cover Sharp Fire LtdTraffic Management SEP

Contractors’ list

DOWNLOAD

2

Star Events returned to the festival to takecare of staging after a two-year absence –and revealed how things had changed sincethey were last there.Senior project manager Phil Addyman toldThe Main Event that a change in the layoutof the site made things better when heavyrain came during the build and the suppliers pulled together to make surethere were no problems.He said: “Sunday was horrendous as it wasraining and really windy but we managed it.Access wise it was a good site.”

Major festivals join forces toadd value to event experience

By Christina Eccles

SEVERAL major festivals includingDownload have joined forces withwell known brands to add value tothe event experience.

One of these brands is Tuborg –which will be exposed to over onemillion festivalgoers this summerthanks to partnerships with LiveNation and other festivals includingGlastonbury, Reading and Leeds.

Director of sponsorship GarethRoberts told The Main Event that oneof the advantages of this relationship

is that the brand can bring in extrafeatures to give visitors more for theirmoney.

One example of this was seen at thisyear’s Download where the Amp It Upcampaign was activated.

This campaign gave festivalgoerschance to “Amp It Up” on camera andenjoy 10 seconds of fame on the AmpIt Up video walls.

There was also the opportunity tofeature on the main stage screensinbetween acts, with winners eachday being picked to receive VIP treat-ment backstage.

Gareth said: “Festivalgoers wanthigh profile, premium products whichadd value to the festival experience.When you add the Tuborg associationwith music it becomes a powerfulcombination.

“Amp it Up is something which festi-valgoers will enjoy. It creates interac-tion and is something to fill the down-time when the bands aren’t playing.This all creates a better experience.”

Tuborg also worked withGlastonbury’s organisers to put on alaunch gig at its new William’s Greenarea – with Maximo Park playing tolucky festivalgoers who made theirway to the Tuborg bar.

Associating with festivals also givesthe brand a chance to develop prizesto give away to people who buy theproduct in stores – raising both itsprofile and that of the events it isworking with.

This year a ‘golden ticket’ prize hasbeen created – with the chance to wina ticket to all the events which Tuborgsupplies.

Director of sponsorship Gareth Roberts

DOWNLOAD

DOWNLOAD

Nottingham-based BRM Productions provided power to concessions at thisyear’s Download festival. In the earlystages, heavy rainfall hindered theprocess but Martyn ‘Miffy’ Smith andhis team coped really well and sawthat power was uninterruptedthroughout the festival.BRM Productions have a strong relationship with Buffalo Power whosupplied power to the stages, the twocompanies have worked together onmany events over the years and willcontinue to support each other onevents throughout the UK.

Bluetooth mobile phonetechnology was used tosend crime preventionand personal safetyadvice to Download’s visitors.Four different messageswere prepared and automatically sent toBluetooth-enabledphones. Of the 4,019 people who picked themup, 1,165 users (25 percent) accepted themwhile 2,854 rejected them.Police said they werehappy with the pick-uprate as it was higher thanthe average of 20 percent.

2

A TASK force has also been set up totackle crime at the festival – a joinedup approach between Live Nation,Leicestershire Police and securitycompany Showsec.

Operation’s director SimonBattersby said the company wel-comes the approach which includesvetting security staff and thatShowsec was keen for the scheme tobe extended throughout the festival.

He said: “We are looking at crime atmajor festivals and are being proac-tive in trying to clean up illegal mer-

chandise and touts. All our staff arevetted and we fully cooperate with it.For us it is a good thing because itallows us to have fresh, clean checksand another layer of vetting. We areall determined to try to crack downon organised crime.”

Managing director Mark Hardingadded: “We are very keen to cooper-ate and like the idea of cleaning upthe workforces.

“It should be extended to otherareas on site such as concessions andcar parks as it gives people confi-

dence but it is a good start with secu-rity.”

Mark also revealed why the teamenjoy working at Download so muchand are keen to return to the eventyear on year.

He added: “We have 600 staff atDownload and the top 100 staff havedone more than 650 gigs each.

“The key to being successful is hav-ing knowledge of the site and theconfidence we have in our manage-ment team.

“This audience is fantastic – one of

the best of the year.”The company also uses a reporting

system for incidents which gives thechance for Showsec Academy associ-ates to get involved in working onmajor events.

When incidents are reported backto the control, the associates aretasked with achieving reports cardsdetailing the incident.

The results are then collated into areport which looks at different inci-dents and figures to see if there areany patterns emerging.

The audience atDownload isamong the bestin the country,according to theteam atShowsec.

Cracking down on festival crime

DOWNLOAD

2 28 ROCKNESS

MRL dealt with event safety atRockness and director Judy Jacksonrevealed how a software programmethe company uses helped everythingto run smoothly.

Judy told The Main Event that byusing the Atlas Ops software, thecompany has a record of what inci-dents occur, how they are dealt withand the outcome – and as it is impos-sible to go back on what has beenlogged and change it, it can also beused as evidence in court.

She also revealed the team’s respon-sibilities at the festival, which includ-ed both work on the event and in theplanning stages.

She said: “We provided an eventsafety manager who went up during

the build and during the three days ofthe event. We also had a member ofstaff doing the job of overnight eventmanager and provided the emer-gency liasion team cover.

“We did it differently this year – amember of Jim’s team was doing theevent control side and we providedstaff and recording systems for themore emergency side.

“There was huge amounts of rainleading up to the event which canhave a knock on effect on the site.But if you plan to cope with moreobvious things – for example bringingin more trackway for bad weather –then you have enough resources tocope with problems.”

Staging First Stage ScotlandPower Tower Event PowerSanitation Portakabin, Farquah and HelianLoosCabins Farquah and PortakabinSecurity Showsec and G4SProduction Project Audio, Limelight, Blink TV,Production HireBars Central CateringTents A&J Big Top

Buggies Golf Buggy HireMarquees Purvis and GrantsFireworks Fireworx Scotland LtdHealth & Safety MRL LimitedRadio NRBSite crew Rock CityStage crew Roe Street RunnersPlumbing Temp Site InstallationsBranding Imaginators

Contractors’ list

Safety softwareprogramme helpsRockness run smoothly

ROCKNESS

By Mary Ferguson

VISITOR numbers to this year’sRockness festival held steady despitethe economic turmoil.

35,000 people converged onScotland – the same number as lastyear – to see headliners The Prodigy,Basement Jaxx and The Flaming Lips,and rock out to the backdrop of theHighlands and Loch Ness.

Organiser Jim King said: “It wassuch a great show last year that atfirst, we expected a big increase inticket sales. But when the recessionkicked in we were nervous about howresilient the UK event market wouldbe.

“Sales went slower this year but wehad an 88 per cent approval ratefrom the people who came in 2008 sowere confident we would draw anacceptable number.”

An ‘early bird’ ticket schemelaunched as soon as the last festivalended – generating an initial flurry ofsales – and Jim said he believes stag-gered payment schemes for all eventsare here to stay.

Last year, he told the Main Event hewas hoping to draw more people tothe event from European countries,and received a small grant fromtourism agency VisitScotland to helpwith international marketing.

“We attracted a high percentage ofpeople from other parts of the UKbut I think next year will be when wesee more European visitors, if theweak pound stays the same.

“The festival is hugely important totourism in the area and last year itbrought £5m into the local economy,but the test will be whether theyoung people who visit Rockness willcome back to the area when they are

older.”This year Rockness featured a head-

line act on the Friday night for thefirst time. The Flaming Lips took tothe stage to kick off the event as partof Jim’s bid to attract big name bandsback to the festival circuit.

He said: “I’m trying to give artistsmore control over their performancesand production.

“There are a lot of bands out therethat don’t like playing big festivalsanymore because they want morecontrol so I’m trying to do somethingabout it, and I already have someideas for who to invite next year.”

The untimely death of a 22-year-oldfestival-goer during the event cast ashadow over the weekend.

James Smith – who was wheelchair-bound due to a rare bone disease –died of an asthma attack on theSaturday night after attending the

festival on a special VIP packagedonated by organisers.

Jim said: “His mother called theoffice a few weeks previously to sayher son was very ill and to askwhether we could arrange a VIPexperience for him.

“It was tremendously sad but hismother called us back shortly after-wards to thank us and I think thatspeaks volumes.”

To engage people with the festivalfrom a young age, Jim decided to letunder 12s in free, hoping they willreturn as paying customers in futureyears.

He added: “We want to be as suc-cessful as Glastonbury in terms ofattracting generations of people andeven though this is only our fourthevent, I still want to be doingRockness in 30 years time.”

Festival goers gather at the site overlooking Loch Ness Jim King

Rockness holds steadydespite economic turmoil

2 ROCKNESS

Supplying power solutions to the industryTOWER Event Power has been sup-plying the industry with temporarypower solutions for over 14 yearsand in this time has built a compre-hensive stock of cabling and distri-bution equipment to handle themost demanding of projects.

Tower has been involved with a

diverse range of installations acrossthe globe including distribution sys-tems around the canals of Veniceand temporary systems atop themountains of Klosters, puttingTower in the ideal position to dealwith power requirements over awide range of events.

Emergency servicesreport less incidentsto previous yearsBy Mary Ferguson

THE emergency services involvedwith Rockness claim there were fewerthefts, incidents of public disorderand assaults compared with previousyears.

A health initiative called Safenesswas trialled at the event, whichincluded supplies of bottled water,wet wipes, torches and rucksacks andfree condoms available from a dedi-cated tent onsite.

This is what the festival’s deliverypartners had to say:

Chief Superintendent Andy Cowie of theNorthern Constabulary

“Obviously from a policing perspec-tive the event is ongoing until every-one leaves the campsite, but at pres-ent we are happy with how this yearhas gone.

“We have had fewer incidents ofpublic disorder and assaults and Ithink this is reflective of the carnivalatmosphere and general goodhumour of the crowd over the week-end.”

Nigel Stafford, British Red Cross "Generally this year we found that

the people who required medicalassistance were happy to be treated.

"We found that most people whocame to us in need of assistance weresuffering from the effects of a previ-ous medical condition or simply had-n't remembered to bring their pre-scribed medication with them.

"We had one case where a youngman suffered superficial burns to hishands after using a gas canister at thecampsite and we had a few peoplewho suffered bumps and grazes fromfalls but overall our figures look likewe had less people presenting withproblems relating to illegal drug use.”

Suzy Calder, coordinator for the HighlandDrug and Alcohol Action Team

"As expected at any large musicalfestival there were a lot of peopledrinking alcohol but we would hopethat new initiatives, such as freewater at the Safeness tent, wouldhelp to reduce the ill effects of that asmuch as possible. It was certainly avery popular tent."

By Louise Cordell

FESTIVAL organisers need to find abalance between forming long termrelationships with suppliers and get-ting the best value deals according toindustry expert Ben Parker.

Ben was in charge of this year’sWychwood Festival which took placeat Cheltenham Racecourse from May29 to 31.

Due to the difficult financial climatehe took the decision to trial a wideselection of new suppliers rightacross the event, from furniture andtents to power and water.

He said: “Our ticket sales werearound 5,500 this year, which is a lit-tle bit down on previous events andwe put this down to the current diffi-cult financial climate.

“We needed to find the best valuesuppliers possible to keep costs downbut it was definitely a risk trying allthese new things out at once – luckilyit worked out very well.”

Ben believes that many other festi-vals will have been doing the samethis year and even long term suppli-ers will have had to drop prices orrisk being replaced by more costeffective alternatives.

He added: “It is a very competitiveindustry, which is good in some waysbecause it tends to keep standardshigh, but it also means there are lotsof other prices to beat.

“Organisers will always stay with

certain suppliers to some degreebecause you build up a relationshipwith them and that loyal service andknowledge is valuable.

“It is very important to try and preserve that, but at the same time,when times are tough financially, you have to get the best prices youcan.

“Currently there are some greatdeals to be done out there – that iswhat I have heard from people allover the country – but as organiserswe also have a duty of care to keepsuppliers going, so that there aresome left in the future when hardtimes improve.”

Balancing value with loyalty

Pictured: Little Boots

THIS year’s Wychwood Festival was athree-day event including music, come-dy, caberet and cinema.

It was held May 29-31 at CheltenhamRacecourse and Supergrass, Super Furry Animals and Little Boots headlined.

Production officer Ben Parker said: “Wecouldn’t have asked for a better weekend.

“The weather was fantastic, there werefew hitches and the event was runninglike clockwork by the Sunday. The atmos-phere was brilliant and we hope to buildan even greater event next year.”

Sun shines on festival Contractors’ listProduction Eventand ManagementServices LtdSound Canegreen& CSSLighting CSSMarquees CrockersBig Tops A&J BigTopsFencing Vince HireMain stage SeriousBarriers LMSEvents

Power Event PowerServicesWater WatermillsELT AD Health andSafetySecurity ESPFire Midland FireProtectionMedical SpecialEvent MedicalServicesTrackways PrimaDirect

WYCHWOOD FESTIVAL

2

ALL contractors were required to re-apply for their positions this year withthe original team of Pearce Hire(lighting and power) and TourTech(audio), successfully winning newcontracts extending until 2012.

Forest Tours programming and pro-duction manager David Barrow fromDB Event Services explained why hethought things have been going sowell.

He said: “We’ve struck the right bal-ance of finding the right artists for thesize of our venues.

“That has meant we kept pricesrealistic. Ticket sales have been fan-tastic with Paul Weller and SimplyRed shows selling out in advance. Wealso had a real treat with the home

PEARCE Hire was responsible forlighting and power at the event andproject manager John Husonrevealed his experiences.

He said: “One of the key challengesfor us is designing a lighting rig thatwill fulfil the requirements of all theartists on the tour.

“This year has proved more diffi-cult than previous years where therewere fewer artists doing more shows,this year we have 12 artists spreadover 22 shows.

“We are ever conscious of our car-bon footprint and this year we haverearranged our trucking logistics,

reducing our travel to just one truck.

“We are also turning off lightingfixtures that aren’t in use during theday to save diesel, which is some-thing that we are implementing atevery event we work on.

“We have two teams on the tour ledby myself and Dan Shelton.

“Everyone enjoys working on theshows because it has been largely thesame contractors and productionteam since 2000 so everyone knowseach other and has a good working relationship, creating a relaxedatmosphere.”

Switched on to carbon footprint

Production DB EventsSound TourtechLighting Pearce HireSecurity AP SecurityStage SeriousPower Pearce HireMedical ShowmedBranding Imaginators

Contractors’ list

The Main Event returned to nature for the ForestryCommission’s live music tours where the magical mix ofwoodland, top artists and professional production continues to attract sell-out audiences despite the credit crunch.

coming show for Doves in Cheshire.We started the tour with nine of the23 shows sold out before we’d openeddoors. I anticipate we will hit just over81 per cent globally so over 100,000ticket sales which is pretty good inthis current financial climate.

“This is a busy tour as we are doing23 shows across seven sites over sixweekends. It’s the team spirit betweencontractors that makes it work. I’mkeen that we offer the artists andaudiences uniformly high levels ofproduction across all sites. The core ofthe team has worked together sincethe tours began in 2000 and are awell-oiled machine. More recent addi-tions such as AP Security have fittedin well and understand what we’relooking to achieve.”

“The tour is pretty unique, as it’spromoted by the ForestryCommission, has no branding, nosponsorship, no media partners andno VIP areas.

“It is self-sustaining, paying foritself, and providing valuable revenueto plough back into the woodland in avariety of environmental and socialprojects as well as bringing new audi-ences to the forests.”

Forestry Commission tourscontinue to blossom

FORESTRY COMMISSION

Last-minute life savers

LAST year’s one-day festival had beenexpanded to two days for 2009 andorganisers were pleased with theturnout of 6,000 people on the Fridayand 7,000 on the Saturday – withplans already in the pipeline to makeit a three day event next year.

But holding a festival in a major citycentre presented its challenges – par-ticularly when it comes to noise.Throw in the close proximity of botha school full of pupils taking examsand a wedding taking place in a near-by church and that challenge becamemore serious.

After issues surrounding the noiselast year, events manager Ben Tillettand his team made some changes toensure the same did not happenagain.

To make sure exams were not dis-turbed, the festival kicked off at 5pmon the Friday and to work round awedding on the Saturday afternoon,organisers had to think outside thebox.

Ben explained: “The church isabout 5m away from the fence. We

had to turn the music off between2pm -3.30pm but managed to controlit quite well and keep within ourlicence.

“We had the Mad Ferret noise teamon hand and it was early on in theday which helped. We made surethere was so much else for visitors todo and an alternative to the music – we even had someone downfrom Guinness World Records andbroke seven world records in thattime.”

Ben also revealed what the organis-ers had learned from staging the fes-tival for the first time last year – andhow it had helped them with thisevent.

He added: “This year we had thebenefit of hindsight and the experi-ence of having done it before.

“We also had proper guest lists andaccreditation. We didn’t understandthe severity of that last year and itwasn’t tight enough.

“We spent a long time this year try-ing to get it right.”

He added that he thought the event

filled the gap for a music festival inManchester and that although itattracted a large student populationlast year, this year they had worked hard to bring in more localpeople.

Future plans for the event includeadding on an extra day and possiblycamping – which could mean movingto another site in Manchester such asthe bigger Heaton Park.

Organisers of The Mad Ferret Festival are celebrating after a successful second year entertaining visitors in Manchester’s Platt Fields Park.Christina Eccles found out what lessons they had learned from last year and why seven world records were broken at the event ...

Staging - Panda HireMain Stage - Saddle StageLighting - AudileSound - AudileSecurity - ShowsecBars - Fluid BarsToilets – Kensite Services

Contractors’ list

Mad Ferret breaks seven world records

MAD FERRET FESTIVAL

2

By Christina EcclesFANS buying festival tickets fromunauthorised websites could be leftout of pocket after paying over theodds for their purchases, newresearch has revealed.

G4S Events’ annual Ticket ToutIndex showed tickets from these sitescost on average 64 per cent morethan their original value – meaningthose wanting to see a major festival,sporting event or concert could endup paying much more.

The research showed that sportsfans are prepared to pay the highestpremium for black market tickets,paying an average of 71 per cent overthe face value to secure their seats.

Music fans also end up paying more– an average of 53 per cent over theface value to see artists such as Oasisand Take That.

Managing director Mark Hamiltonsaid: “Despite the introduction oflegitimate sites for the resale of eventtickets, thousands of tickets can stillbe found for sale across the interneton unauthorised websites.

“Many of these tickets are ‘phantom’tickets and do not even exist, as toutsprey on the public’s desire to secure‘must have’ tickets for sold outevents.

“Purchasers of second-hand ticketsmay find that they are denied entry toevents such as Glastonbury, if theticket holder is not able to produce acredit card or identification matching

that of the original ticket purchaser.”

Mark also said that fans payinghuge premiums for sold out concerts could also be left out ofpocket as if the concert gets resched-uled or cancelled, the money isrefunded to the original purchaser ofthe tickets.

He added that fans buying tickets tosporting events could also be puttingtheir safety at risk if they end up withtickets sitting near supporters of rivalteams.

He added: “Crowd segregation atsporting events is particularly impor-tant to avoid dangerous incidentsoccurring between rival supporters.

“Fans buying tickets on the blackmarket could find themselves sittingwith opposing fans, putting theirhealth and safety at risk and theycould find themselves ejected andbarred from a stadium.”

Glastonbury organisers could face legalaction for breaching licensing conditionsafter Bruce Springsteen’s performanceover-ran by nine minutes.Mendip District Council’s legal team is dis-cussing whether to take any action againstGlastonbury Festivals Ltd for the breachand for ‘a number of other matters’ relat-ing to the licence.Overall though, the show has been praisedas a shining example of partnershipbetween organisers, the police and the dis-

trict council.A council spokesman said: “Overall weseem to have had another successful festi-val, and the work we do in partnershipwith others is clearly making this a betterevent every year.“Even though lots of people are singingthe praises of the event and some sayingit’s the best ever, we are not complacentand will continue to see how we can makeeven more improvements for the future.”

‘Festivalfans couldbe left outof pocket’

FESTIVAL ROUND-UP

‘Many of these ticketsare ‘phantom’ ticketsand do not even exist,as touts prey on thepublic’s desire to secure‘must have’ tickets forsold out events’

NOEA 35

September 22-23EVENT UK Exhibition, NEC, Birmingham– NOEA Stand

October 21 – 22Showman’s Show, Newbury – NOEAStand

October 21 NOEA Local AuthorityNetwork Meeting, Showman’s Show(tbc)

NovemberRegional Conferences to beannounced (Perth/Leeds)

2010JanuaryThe Event Show, London

February 24 – 26NOEA Convention & TributeCelebration Evening – Venue to be confirmedFebruary 25 NOEA Golf Day(Convention) – being considered

Other Conferences to include Teesside,Bath, Northern Ireland, Wales,Scotland, Channel Islands andCornwall, (tbc) = all to be confirmed

NOEA calendar

The Event Safety Guide ...THERE were many important mattersdiscussed including some restructur-ing of the association, the conventionand tribute celebration eveningFebruary 24 -26 2010 – venue to beannounced shortly; the integration ofthe National Entertainment AgentsCouncil with NOEA; EVENT UKExhibition at NEC BirminghamSeptember 22 and 23 at which NOEAwill man an information stand; NOEAScotland conference in Perth inNovember and possibly conferenceand annual general meeting in Leedsin November too and a myriad ofother matters which are being dealtwith separately.

The association continues to be verybusy both in the summer and the restof the year.

RICHARD Limb, NOEA presidentchaired the first day of the conferenceand presented a paper on “TakingCreativity Seriously” – health andsafety issues on the second day.

John Barton, general secretarymanned the NOEA trade informationstand over the two days and some 150delegates attended the event with anumber of other exhibitors.

Presentations included the OlympicSponsors Coca-Cola London 2012Project and Deloitte, opportunities formarketing, is your business ready tocompete, Where and how to identifybusiness opportunities, fair pricingcharter, sustainability and brandingissues, real life case studies and muchmore – a fuller report elsewhere.There followed a tour of the London2012 Olympic sites.

Delegates were impressed with thelevel of speakers and with the contentof their presentations. NOEA receivedsome good ideas for their own con-vention in 2010 and had a number ofinteresting conversations with poten-tial members and some who wishedto work with NOEA. The delegate listwas most impressive and NOEAwould welcome the opportunity towork with COOL again in the future.

GENERAL COUNCILMEETING MAY 2009

NOEA general councilRichard Limb, director of leisuresafety, Capita Symonds Ltd presidentAnnemarie Chebib, managingdirector, Select Security &Stewarding Ltdvice president Philip Day, partner, HorseyLightly Fynnvice president

Keith Allen, partner, Allen-DrakeManagement Limited, hon treasurer

General councilPJ Aldred, Aldred Associates LtdMichael Bell, safety practitioner,Bellensen Associates

Jan Booth, managing director,SunbabaRob Corp, special events manager, Cardiff CouncilSimon Graveling, chairman,Stage One Creative Services LtdTony Ireland, consultantSylvia McCann, events manager,Millennium Square, LeedsConor Moss, programme leader,University of Derby Faculty ofCulture & LifestyleCraig Oldfield, consultant (formerly Ipswich BoroughCouncil)Terry Waller, managing director,CoverEx International

THE Event Safety Guide known as thePurple Guide – the HSE wish to pub-lish this again and the Event IndustryForum (EIF) is to be involved in there-writing.

The EIF are supported by the follow-ing:-

� The Event Services Association

� National Outdoor EventsAssociation,

� Association of Show andAgricultural Associations

� Performance Textiles Association

� Centre for Crowd Management &Security Studies

� Portable Sanitation Europe

� Production Services Association

� National Caterers Association

� Rugby Football Union

� National Market Traders

� Institute of Sports & RecreationManagement

� British Pyrotechnic Association

� Emergency Planning College,Easingwold

� Association of IndependentFestival Organisers

� Association of Festival Organisers

� Major Event Organisers

� Local Authorities Event OrganisersGroup.

There is much preparation to be done and the terms of referenceand timetable to be agreed with theHSE.

Everyone will be advised accordingly.

NOEA president Richardpresents paper atCOOL conference

Richard Limb

COOL 2012 CONFERENCE O2 LONDON“COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEOLYMPICS IN LONDON” – June 2 and 3 2009

2 36 TRAINING & RECRUITMENT

STUDENTS in Cheshire have beengiven the chance to experience life inthe events industry thanks to a part-nership between local festivalWhatfest and Mid Cheshire College.

Festival organiser Simon Bennettjoined forces with the college to givestudents first hand experience ofworking on a major event and thecollege is even sponsoring the secondstage for one of the nights.

Tickets for the festival are also soldat the college and Simon said thattheir attractive price also makes it anevent which young people want to beinvolved in and attend.

Students are offered a discountprice of £35 for the weekend to beable to see acts including TheBluetones, Dodgy and Sam Isaac –making it one of the most affordablefestivals in the market.

Simon said: “Mid Cheshire Collegehas a musical and technical depart-ment and they have sponsored thesecond stage for one of the nights togive the students the experience. Itwould be ridiculous to hold a music

festival on their doorstep and not getthem involved.

“The festival is popular with thestudent market and we are going toget in touch with other universities inthe area.”

Simon’s day job is an organic farmerand this will be the second year hehas allowed his farm, Shipbrook HillFarm in Whatcroft, Cheshire, to be

used as the festival site.About 2,000 people attended over

two days at the first festival last yearbut this year Simon is expecting up to10,000 over three days.

He has also made some changes forthis year – including encouragingmore organic food and drink conces-sions to trade at the event to stayloyal to the site’s organic roots.

College teams up withfarmer Simon for festival

Thestudentsgot aclose-uplook attheeventsindustry

LEEDS-based event managementcompany, Wellpleased Events has anew account manager – RachelBooth.

Rachel, pictured left, will help man-age the company’s increasing portfo-lio of clients and assist in the deliveryof their events.

She said: “I am extremely excitedabout my new role at WellpleasedEvents.

“Their astonishing creativity andclient portfolio are second to noneand I am looking forward to workingwith them immensely. It is a realpleasure to join such an enthusiasticand dynamic team with their marketleading originality.”

A TWO day conference will take place in September whichbrings together health andsafety and crowd managementexperts from all over Europe.

The European Health andSafety Conference and Seminar– hosted by BuckinghamshireNew University – will be held at Missenden Abbey inBuckinghamshire onSeptember 24 and 25 with the theme of working in harmony to create safer events in Europe.

Experts fromall over Europeto convergeon conference

Racheljoins eventcompany

THE team behind a new event man-agement company is bucking thetrend by successfully launching dur-ing the recession.

Staff at Wakefield based SquareTwenty One Events – which was setup earlier this year to provide eventservices to organisations acrossYorkshire and Humber – are drawingon experiences gained from the NewYork event industry during last year’sWall Street crash.

Company founder, Jodie Speight,was based in New York during theheight of the economic crisis in theUnited States and believes her experi-ence gained there will be useful.

She said: “Having witnessed firsthand the effect the recession had onthe industry there, I feel we are wellplaced to anticipate the problemsthat arise from the economic crisis inthis country.

“Despite the economic gloom, we’vefound that organisations in thisregion still see the value of holdingevents, although in the current cli-mate, they may no longer have theresources to take on this sort of taskin-house and need to bring in a firmto do this for them.

“We feel that there is a clear placefor us in the market, even in theseuncertain times, and we’re eager tobuild on the success of the regionalevents we have already worked on.”

New teambucks thetrend ...

TRAINING & RECRUITMENT 37

AS part of a series that trackedShowsec’s Academy training pro-gram last year, The Main Event metEmmalene Charlton at DownloadFestival.

We covered her learning role,managing disabled members of theaudience, while the other five asso-ciates took on different aspects ofthe huge logistics operation.

We caught up with course manag-er Keith Hackett at this year’sDownload festival and asked himwhether the innovative trainingprogram is achieving its aims.

Keith said: “The great success ofthe Academy is evident lookingaround us at Donington Park. TheAcademy two team is here in train-ing roles and there is a great, posi-tive buzz around the site aboutapplications for Academy three,which we are currently recruiting.

“We set out to give the associatesthe knowledge, skills and correctattitude to become operationsexecutives; the first six academyassociates all passed recently andhave accepted positions within thecompany.

“Four of them are here atDownload, with Simon Gunn act-ing as Showsec’s logistics site co-ordinator. Last year Academy onestudied all aspects of the event’slogistics to gain an understandingof what the delivery of a successfulsecurity operation for a major festi-val entails.

“He is now an operations execu-tive in the local Nottingham areaand was ideally suited to managethe complex logistics operation atDownload with enthusiasm andproficiency, while introducingsome fresh ideas.

“The company is so busy acrossthe country this summer that twoof our associates are employedelsewhere. Emmalene is working inLondon this weekend, havingaccepted an operations executiverole in The Roundhouse, Camden,while Rachel Evans is supportingour newly opened Scottish officethis weekend as part of the securityteam at the Rockness Festival.

“The Academy’s two associatesare on-site to help with logistics,but also had a variety of otherlearning roles. They were given adegree of responsibility, whilebeing mentored by experiencedmanagers and supervisors; they’veall been surprised how hard they’vehad to work having been there for‘build’, through the festival andincluding the ‘break’ on theMonday. However, they all saidthey wouldn’t have missed aminute of it and have got a realbuzz from their first big festival andhow well all the staff from variousareas worked so well as a team.

“They now fully appreciate howtheir theoretical classroom learningand months of observation trans-late into operational practice.

“They were particularlyimpressed with how the manage-ment policies and procedures came

together to provide a smooth andprofessional security operation atsuch a large festival.”

Future looks bright with Showsec Academy

DB Systems has recruited two newmembers of staff – Craig Simmons,pictured above, and ChristineO’Connor.

Craig has joined the business as atechnician and Christine will supportcommercial services director, PennyPearson, by handling the day-to-dayadministration of DB’s sales activities.

Sales director Oliver Richardsonsaid: “While this year may be difficult

for some contractors, I’m confidentthat our first class service and reputa-tion of delivering innovative AV andIT solutions for clients will ensurethat we have another successful year.

“It’s with this confidence that wehave increased our workforce to copewith levels of demand. Craig andChristine will make great additions tothe team.”

Craig and Christine becomelatest additions to team

2 38 365 - SUPPLIER DIRECTORY

Audio VisualFMXFenwick By-passAyrshireKA3 6AWT: 01560 600271ross@fmx-ltd.comwww.fmx-ltd.com

SRD Group LimitedThe StudioShipbourne RoadTonbridgeTN10 3DJT: 01732 373920info@srdgroup.co.ukwww.srdgroup.co.uk

BarsCreativeventsEarls Court Exhibition CentreLondonSW5 9TAT: 0207 370 8685general@cevents.co.ukwww.creativevents.co.uk

Peppermint Bars19 Pensbury StreetBatterseaLondonSW8 4TLT: 0845 226 7845info-me@peppermintbars.co.ukwww.peppermintbars.co.uk

CCTVEtherliveBrinkworth HouseChippenhamWiltshireSN15 5DFT: 01666 511862tom.mcinerney@etherlive.co.ukwww.etherlive.co.uk

In FocusCommunications & Vision LtdUnit PPart LHadrian's Enterprise Park,HaltwhistleNorthumberlandNE49 0EXT: 01434 322162info@ifcv.co.ukwww.ifcv.co.uk

Spindlewood CCTVThe Resource CentreFeatherstoneWF7 5EWT: 0845 230 0113charlieb@spindlewoodcctv.comwww.spindlewoodcctv.com

CommunicationsMidland Radio LinksUnit 4,181-187 Moseley StreetBirminghamB12 0RTT: 0121 7667661paul@midlandradiolinks.comwww.midlandradiolinks.com

Murphy Comhire LtdCommunications HouseSheffieldS9 1LDT: 0114 243 4567mandy@murphy-com-hire.comwww.murphy-com-hire.com

Smye-Rumsby Limited123-125 Snargate StreetDoverKentCT17 9APT: 01304 248900info@smye-rumsby.comwww.smye-rumsby.com

CrowdManagementG4S EventsSutton Park House15 Carshalton RoadSuttonSurreySM1 4LDT: 0800 085 9899sales@uk.g4s.comwww.g4s.com/uk-events

Showsec International LimitedFloor 1e & 2e Phoenix YardUpper Brown StreetLeicesterLE1 5TET: 0116 204 3333simon.battersby@crowd-managment.comwww.crowd-management.com

Specialized SecurityRoyal Highland CentreInglistonEdinburghEH28 8NFT: 0131 333 4747tom@specializedsecurity.co.ukwww.specializedsecurity.co.uk

Touchline Event Management Ltd7 Allison CourtMetro CentreGatesheadTyne & WearNE11 9YST: 0191 496 1000info@touchline-em.co.ukwww.touchline-em.co.uk

EmergencyHeating & CoolingCool Services Building 26Bay 4The Pensnett EstateKingswinfordDY6 7TBT: 0800 9705656kevin@event-heating.co.ukwww.coolservices.co.uk

Carrier Rental SystemsWigan Road LeylandPrestonPR25 5XWT: 0800 026 4717Info@CarrierRentalSystems.co.uk

Event BrandingPiggotts Branding43 London RoadStanford RiversOngarEssexCM5 9PJT: 01277 363262kelly.seymour@piggotts.co.ukwww.piggotts.co.uk

Event ProductionSledgeThe Mill HouseMillers WayLondonW6 7NHT: 020 8743 3232ian.irving@sledge.co.ukwww.sledge.co.uk

Health & SafetyEvent Safety12 Vale AvenueBuryBL9 9LWM: 07812 159 339T: 0161 763 7020kevin@event-safety.orgwww.event-safety.org

InsuranceServicesEvent Insurance Services LimitedEvent House20A Headlands Business ParkRingwoodBH24 3PBT: 01425 470360info@events-insurance.co.ukwww.events-insurance.co.uk

Robertson Taylor117 Fenchurch Street LondonEC3M 5DYT: (0)870 114 2643enquiries@rtib.co.ukwww.robertson-taylor.co.uk

MarqueesPiggotts Marquees43 London RoadStanford RiversOngarEssexCM5 9PJT: 01277 363262richard.treml@piggotts.co.ukwww.piggotts.co.uk

MedicalManagementSP Services (UK) LtdUnit D4, Hortonpark EstateHortonwood 7 Telford Shropshire TF1 7GXT: 01952 288 999F: 01952 606 112sales@spservices.co.ukwww.spservices.co.uk

Venture Event Medical ManagementCopperfield House47 Leeds RoadGawthorpeOssett West Yorkshire WF5 9QWT: 07988 388461enquiries@ventureemm.co.ukwww.ventureemm.co.uk

RevolvingStagesMovetech UK A division of BritishTurntable Co LtdEmblem StreetBoltonBL3 5BWT: 01204 537682rental@movetechuk.comwww.movetechuk.com/rental

Screen HireXL Video2 Eastman WayHemel HempsteadHertsHP27DUT: 01442 849400zoe@xlvideo.tvwww.xlvideo.com

StagingCentre Stage EventsUnit 108a Leyland Trading EstateIrthlingborough RoadWellingboroughT: 01234 783234info@centrestageevents.comwww.centrestageevents.com

CPS Seating & Staging CoBrunel House Brunel CloseHarworth DoncasterDN11 8QAT: 01302 741888 jason.hughes@seatingandstaging.co.uk

Steeldeck Rentals LtdUnit 58T.Marchant Estate42-72 Verney RoadLondonSE16 3DHT: 020 7833 2031richard@steeldeck.co.ukwww.steeldeck.co.uk

The Outdoor Staging Company Ltd1 Langley DriveCastle Bromwich B35 7ADT: +44(0)7866 470 293info@outdoorstage.co.ukwww.outdoorstage.co.uk

TemporaryFencingBeaver 84Beaver HouseCrompton CloseBasildonSS14 3AYT: 01708 861821info@beaver84.co.ukwww.beaver84.co.uk

TicketingTungate GroupBrookhouse WayCheadleStaffordshireST10 1SRT: 01538 755755F: 01538 756062info@tungategroup.co.ukwww.tungategroup.co.uk

VenuesFabric LondonLevel 2 Greenhill House Cowcross Street LondonEC1M 6BT: 020 7549 4844celine@fabriclondon.comwww.fabricevents.com

Morris Holdings (UK) Limited17B Mile Oak Industrial Estate,Maesbury Road OswestryShropshire SY10 8GAT: 01691 680373info@morrisholdings.co.ukwww.morrisholdings.co.uk

Grundon Waste ManagementSpecial Events ServicesEwelmeWallingfordOxonOX10 6PJT: 08700 604366specialevents@grundon.comwww.grundon.com

Waste Management

To advertise here call 01226 734 456

PORTABLE ROADWAY

MEDICAL

EVENT SPECIALISTS

EVENT BRANDING

INSTALLATIONS WASTE MANAGEMENT

HEATING & COOLING

TOILET HIRE

RECYCLING

FAIRGROUNDS

Unit D, Central Estate,Albert Road, Aldershot,Hampshire GU11 1SZ

Tel: 01252 313005

The EventMedicine Company

Email: info@eventmedicinecompany.co.ukwww.eventmedicinecompany.co.uk

VEHICLE HIRE

BARS RADIO HIRE

HOSPITALITY

POWER SUPPLY

BALLOONS

CLASSIFIED 29

CATERING

EVENT HIRE

TO ADVERTISE HERE CALL 01226 734456