UK - A record breaking 5,212 enthusiasts descended on Brooklands last weekend for the smart Festival, a celebration of the much loved urban car brand, produced by Mobile Promotions. The venue was transformed into a smart enthusiast's paradise with street-themed activities, such as slacklining and urban basketball, live music and the chance to engage with some of the hottest new vehicles around.

Comperes, comedian and F1 specialist Danny Hornigold partnered with car expert and BBC commentator Andrew Coley to ensure everyone was well informed and enjoyed the fun. Pro freestyle skateboarders Kilian Martin and Alfredo Urbon impressed the crowd dazzling with their skills on the Fun Fortwo, the world's first-ever tandem skateboard and foot-tapping artists Threepenny Bit and beatboxer champion Jack Hobbs AKA "Hobbit" added an eclectic soundtrack to keep the fun and light-hear

USA - The Le Mark Group will launch the Dirty Rigger SRT glove at LDI 2012. On show for the first time at an LDI Show, the new SRT Glove has achieved remarkable success in the UK and Europe and is already gaining interest from dealers across America. Offering exceptional grip and outstanding protection the SRT rigger glove boasts silicone embossing on key areas for a confidant performance in all-weather working conditions, ssays the company.

High density knuckle padding and finger guards to protect against impact, combined with micro-perforated inner fingers help to keep fingers cool even in the toughest of environments.

(Jim Evans)

USA - PLASA Events has announced the line-up for the next three editions of its North American regional trade show series. Following PLASA Focus: Stamford 2012, to be held on 12-13 November, 2012 at the Stamford Marriott in Connecticut, the new-style regional events will roll into Orlando on 15-16 May, 2013; Austin on 10-11 September, 2013; and Nashville on 5-6 February, 2014.

Having made a name for itself in its first year, the PLASA Focus series is committed to providing live production professionals that can't attend national shows with a chance to check out new technologies in their own backyard.

The events are the first chance for many entertainment tech communities to meet at a dedicated event for their area. Each event showcases the very latest pro audio, lighting, AV and stage technologies, much of the gear making its U.S debut, fresh from international launches.

CEO

UK - Preparing for the new 2013 catalogue, members of the Dirty Rigger team were sent into the freezing cold at the Xscape Snow Dome in Milton Keynes. With no better place to capture Dirty Rigger's new SubZer0 Cold Weather Gloves in action, the team were subjected to freezing surface temperatures as low as -15C throughout the shoot.

Dirty Rigger's product manager Steve Marshall says, "The cold weather gloves were outstanding. This is the first time I have personally used them in such a cold and demanding condition and they did not disappoint. The Thinsulate 40gram lining gave an excellent combination of insulation and dexterity, allowing me to get a good feel for the activities we were undertaking.

"There was little impact felt in my hands from the cold, even though at times they were working in direct contact with the freezing snow."

(Jim Evans)

USA - Le Maitre unveiled two new machines at this year's LDI.

Le Maitre's HazeMaster has been engineered to withstand the rigours of the road when on tour.

Le Maitre have taken all their experience from HazeMaster's predecessors, the renowned Stadium Hazer and the MVS Hazer, and designed a completely new machine with a host of new features and benefits. Le Maitre's acquired knowledge and original investments have enabled them to produce a much more competitively priced unit, despite using higher quality, longer lasting parts, says the company.

The combination of an industrial grade air-pump, a two-stage heating process and a microprocessor controller, produce an output so powerful that the HazeMaster can convert up to 500cc of fluid per hour. Despite the huge output, the high efficiency design results in the power consumption of the HazeMaster being just 800W - less than hal

UK - The Arena Group has begun the installation of a temporary building that will host a variety of major indoor events throughout 2013 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland as it is named UK City of Culture, October 2012.

Arena's TFS structure will become the primary venue for Londonderry, extending its venue capabilities and enabling the city to host the UK City of Culture for 2013, which will present a celebration of Londonderry's culture to local and international audiences through a series of high profile cultural events. Arena's semi-permanent venue that is being built now will remain on the specially cleared, former army base for the entire year.

Without an existing venue large enough to host the variety of events planned throughout the year, Arena was approached by the Department for Social Development and Ilex, the Strategic Investment Board and Central Procurement Directo

Australia - Mojo Barriers has opened a permanent Australian office giving event organisers and venues across the continent access to the full Mojo Barriers product range with enhanced logistical capabilities and customer service.

Mojo Barriers Australia officially opened doors on 2 October, and the operation is already in full swing for the start of the Australian event season. The main office and storage premises are based in Sydney and will house over 1,500m of stock, with additional barriers located across other major cities to allow for the most efficient and cost effective service.

Since the crowd safety product was first introduced to Australia in 2002, Mojo Barriers has firmly established a leading positioning the market, supplying events including Big Day Out, Soundwave and Future Music Festival via local partners. Now, in response to client demand, Mojo Barriers has b

USA - Bringing home "one of the best results from any international trade show", this year's LDI Exhibition saw an outstanding level of development in Le Mark's USA distribution network, says the company.

With four new dealers ready to take stock of the entire Dirty Rigger gloves & accessories range straight after the show, plus an additional 80 high profile enquires, the team have again been overwhelmed with the response.

Dirty Rigger product manager Steve Marshall said, "Within a little over 12 months we've managed to secure 11 new distributors across the USA for our rigger gloves & tool pouches. With the results of a second impressive LDI show, I have every confidence this will at least double in the first quarter of 2013. It's been a really amazing show."

Also featuring heavily at LDI were Le Mark's Professional dance floors and the all new 'TripLine'

UK - Edinburgh-based technical installation specialist Northern Light is the first company to purchase the newly launched SDRIVE motorised track system by Triple E.

Following an industry and press launch hosted by Triple E's managing director David Edelstein at Portsmouth's King's Theatre in September, Northern Light project manager Martin Tarpy purchased the SDRIVE system for The New Waverley School in Birmingham.

"We wanted to deliver the best possible solution for the school's main proscenium theatre and consulted a range of suppliers, including Triple E," says Tarpy. "The SDRIVE had launched that very week and appeared to meet all of our technical criteria, as well as our budget."

The SDRIVE system is a compact and simple to use motor intended for curtains weighing up to 50kgs and is suitable for drama stages in buildings such as schools.

The new Wa

UK - James Thomas Engineering has appointed Patrick Lockwood as special projects manager. Returning to JTE for his second stint with the company, Lockwood brings a wealth of experience from terms at Tomcat, Lite Structures and more recently Prolyte.

As special projects manager, Lockwood will handle every aspect from initial customer contact through to installation, as well as the development of new, cutting-edge truss products. "This will take us into an exciting future, and enable us to take the James Thomas brand back to the very front of truss manufacture globally," says JTE general manager Paul Young.

He added: "We are extremely excited at the appointment and knew that there are only a handful of people capable of fulfilling this role. Of those, Pat is our number one choice, so we are delighted to welcome him back."

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Right Structures has introduced three new models to its Geo Stage range, now available to the live events industry across Europe, October 2012.

The curved roof of Right Structures Geo Stage has been made available in 20m, 30m and 45m spans. Right Structures officially launched to the industry earlier this year and has continued to develop its range to offer festival and event organisers a flexible, structurally sound staging system.

Ruben Caruana, Right Structure's business development director, explains, "The creativity and flexibility of our modular Geo Structure System allows for a design-led alternative to the traditional stage set up and we have continued to invest in equipment and develop our product line in recent months to meet client's needs. Our new standard stage models, Geo20, Geo30 and Geo45, provide organisers with a cost effective, attractive solution

UK - Flightcase manufacturer 5 Star continues to enjoy brisk business this autumn with a wide variety of projects including a substantial supply of cases to Edinburgh-based lighting, sound and AV specialist, Black Light.

The cases - a series of general purpose and custom items - were purchased to protect and transport Black Light's newest equipment investments, including lighting and rigging kit.

5 Star designed, manufactured and delivered the order with their characteristic speed and efficiency so the cases were able to go straight into action on a range of events and hires.

5 Star was selected for its reputation for producing robust, premium quality cases as well as the expedient turnaround, and was project managed for them by John Barsby out of the company's Wisbech HQ.

Eight Eurotrucker road trunks with full trays, one ETC Gio lighting console case, two Selecon Acclaim

UK - The Bristol Old Vic, one of Britain's most historic theatres, founded in 1766 by 50 merchants, lawyers and politicians, has been given a spectacular £12.26m makeover in the first phase of a major redevelopment.

Originally designed by the Bristol architect James Saunderson, the theatre is believed to be the oldest working theatre in the UK. Stage Electrics was awarded the contract to design and install a completely new technical infrastructure and production lighting, audio and communications systems. The project has been headed by consultants Charcoalblue with design by John Stevens and project management by John Woodley; architect Andrzej Blonski and builders Galliford Try.

The refurbishment includes the raising of the stalls and gallery to dramatically improve sightlines throughout the Georgian auditorium, a new, flexible thrust stage format, conversion of the pai

UK - A Stage Technologies rental AU:tour control system provided the overhead flying for Nicholas Hytner's triumphant version of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens at the Olivier Theatre in the National Theatre. The production, which opened on 17 July, finished its run on 1 November in front of a live audience in London and was live-streamed to cinemas around the world.

The Stage Technologies system included 15 BigTow winches, ranging from 12 BT200s and two BT390s which flew smaller scenic items to a single BT490 which moved a very large scenic wall. The control system included several AU:tour control racks and an Acrobat G•6 desk, running the eChameleon software.

Stage Technologies' director of rentals services Ted Moore said: "It is a great privilege for our rentals team to be asked to provide an automation system for the National Theatre, one of the most famous

USA - CAST is pulling out all the stops for PLASA Focus Stamford with not one, but four new products, plus an educational seminar. PLASA Focus will be held 12-13 November at the Stamford Marriott in Stamford, Connecticut where CAST will be exhibiting in Booth 121 and will demonstrate their newest products, BlackTrax, wysiwyg R29, Vivien 2012 and Vivien Online.

Jim Hutchison, product manager wysiwyg and Vivien, will present the seminar entitled, The Birth, Childhood, and Apparent Adolescence of Lighting Design Technology as part of the PLASA Focus Professional Development Programme. The seminar will be held on Monday, 12 November from 1:30-2:30pm and again on Tuesday, 13 November from 12:30-1:30pm in the Massachusetts Room.

Hutchison's session will take trip through the last 75 years or so of lighting Design technology, from its birth with paper and pencil through the ab

UK - Milton Keynes based Impact Production Services (IPS) supplied all the lighting, staging and rigging for the recent James Bond Premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Working for Limited Edition Event Design, IPS built various Prolyte Truss and Layher Scaffolding based structures, which were then dressed with event branding and LED screens. IPS also supplied intelligent lighting fixtures from Martin, Clay Paky and Studio Due, along with a substantial quantity of generic fixtures, mainly 1k and 2k Fresnel's. All the lighting was controlled via a Chamsys desk.

Over 300m of Prolyte Truss from was used to construct a large banner frame on the roadway, and a series of MPT based lighting towers along the red carpet. The focal point of the entrance area was a stage constructed from Layher EV100 Event Decks, forming part of a structure also incorporating Layher Allround scaffoldi

UK - Le Mark's mirror effect Studiotak studio floor wowed an estimated 3.5m viewers during its broadcast on the Jonathan Ross Show Saturday night. This week's live performance saw chart-topping Rita Ora control the stage singing her new song How We Do (Party).

Fitted with Le Mark's mirror effect floor from the Studiotak flooring range, the Rita Ora stage 'mirrored' the urban styling of the performance, providing a stunning high gloss visual effect.

Le Mark's Leanne Baker commented: "The studio floor looked stunning. It's quite rare for the mirror effect finish to be used on TV as it's so incredibly reflective. The way the set and lighting designers must have collaborated to make it work how it did was absolutely fantastic and displayed brilliantly on TV. Of course, it being StudioTak, it can be installed and removed in minimal time, a key feature for temporary sets

USA - ETCP is a high quality certification programme that can further enhance your identity as a competent and knowledgeable leader in your field. Increase your credibility by becoming ETCP Certified.

Having ETCP Certification demonstrates that you are in the top third of the industry professionals in North America; furthermore, to maintain your certification, you must accrue continuing education credits which shows your employer that you are current with industry developments and practices. ETCP has issued almost 1600 certifications! Don't get left behind, submit your application today!

The ETCP Examinations will be given at USITT in Milwaukee, WI. All three ETCP examinations will be given in one session the morning of March 22, 2013. Candidates who wish to take more than one exam should contact ETCP. Members and employees of members of USITT receive a $100 discount on examin

UK - SES has just manufactured and delivered its first purpose built 1600A all HDPE Mains Distribution Unit which was ordered by Cardiff based 11th Hour Events for a long term job at the Cardiff Winter Wonderland.

This size MDU, traditionally built from steel, was designed from scratch by SES's Mark Cooper to fulfil the requirements of 11th hour events. Encompassing a 1600A Bus bar chamber, and 6 sets of outgoing powerlock, the design was a challenge even for Marks wealth of design experience. "Steel is a very forgiving and easy to work material, and can simply be bent and welded,but when using HDPE, the thought process into the engineering takes a lot more time".

11th hour wanted to get away from the traditional steel units as they are easy to damage, do not weather very well and are difficult to repair. By choosing the unit that SES manufactured, it also has the ad

UK - Due to the "undisputed recognition and popularity of the PASMA name as the sole industry-recognised training scheme for mobile access towers", the Association says it has been made aware that a small number of unscrupulous companies are attempting to pass themselves off as PASMA Training Members, without having shown that they meet the industry standards needed to become an accredited PASMA member.

Says the organisation, "There is certainly no guarantee that these fake PASMA training companies will offer the quality of training required and expected within the industry. Instead, training from these organisations is likely to lead to wrong or outdated information being given as well as sub-standard training, which could clearly create a very real safety risk and is, therefore, a waste of time and money.

"It is also certain that training from these provi

UK - The Arena Group has helped create an improved facility at Ice Rink Canary Wharf, including London's first ever Ice Path, November 2012.

Nestled under the soaring buildings of Canada Square and bathed in twinkling festive lights, Ice Rink Canary Wharf is back with a sparkling new look for the 2012/13 season. The 807m² rink opened on 7 November with a spectacular ice show and live music and is expected to attract a record number of people before closing on 13 January 13, enhancing visitor experience across the Canary Wharf district during the festive season.

Arena Group delivered a full service turnkey solution for event infrastructure, working with client Ice Rink Canary Wharf to deliver every element of the project in the sensitive location of Canada Square. This included temporary structures, branding, working with all stakeholders including main sponsor Hublot, interio

UK - Devon based drapes, starcloth, LED and visual effects specialist S+H Technical has supplied 1100sq.m of lush red velvet Pea-Light Starcloth containing approximately 6000 inbuilt lights, plus an additional 6000 Pea Lights integrated into the set walls for Strictly Come Dancing, staged in BBC TV's TC1 studio, Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London.

These elements are a vital component of Patrick Doherty's set design. They help set the mood for the UK's perennially popular series - now in its tenth season - which is broadcast live each week during BBC1's Saturday evening prime time, complete with a studio audience of 600.

For this series, around the bottom half of the set (below the balcony) the individual Pea Lights have been fastened in neat rows so they all line up. More, installed in the same way, are also used to line presenter Tess Daly's interview area on the balco

Belgium - Noxx Antwerp has completed its redesign with two ArKaos Stage servers driving video on a 30sq.m 3D sculpture and a 300sq.m LED ceiling.

Five years have gone by since Noxx Antwerp first opened its doors to the public in September 2007, five years making history, making of Noxx one of the biggest clubs in Belgium, Europe even. Noxx is also a stylish venue which can accommodate up to 2500 clubbers in five different areas.

The management recently decided to renew the design of the Main Room with a spectacular 3D mapping projection driven by an ArKaos Stage media server. They also switched to another ArKaos Stage server for displaying visuals on the LED Web that covers the entire ceiling.

When entering the redesigned Main Room, your eyes will almost immediately point to the massive 3D sculpture, which forms the body for the revolutionary 3D mapping projection, unique in

UK - The first Source Book from Gerriets, produced in March of 2011, has been overwhelmingly popular, and the company has now published an expanded, 650-page second edition. Updates include new projects and products, a revised index, and more extensive information about our line of technical systems.

The new edition of the Source Book is published not only in the usual German/French/English version, but also in an English/Spanish/Portuguese language version.

Featured new products include the Batten Clew, an ingenious alternative to expensive point hoist systems and the G-TWIST, for quick and easy ceiling mounting of the classic TRUMPF95 track system. These and many other news can be found in the new Source Book (2)

(Jim Evans)

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