Hungary - Le Mark Group continued its expansion into Central and Eastern Europe this past June with a recent visit to Budapest. Spending time developing both new and existing business, Le Mark's Stuart Gibbons and Hannah Attfield report, "The country offers huge potential for all Le Mark products."

"It was a true pleasure to at last meet clients that I had previously only spoken to over the phone or by e-mail," says Attfield. "With the continued expansion and diversity of Le Mark products I wanted to meet and be able to discuss the next phase in our growth in Hungary. My only negative was that this visit was just too short.

"I can see that there are some excellent areas where Le Mark and our new products can grow. We've recently launched new additions to our Dirty Rigger gloves and accessories range in similar countries with huge success and have

Music in Schools - Violinist Nicola Benedetti has attacked the spending squeeze on music tuition in schools. She said young people needed a cultural identity to replace their obsession with celebrities and in becoming a celebrity. Benedetti began violin lessons at the age of five and went on to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. The 25-year-old told the Radio Times, "I'm fiercely furious about the provision of music in schools."

Benedetti secured a £2m, six-album record contract after winning BBC Young Musician of the Year at 16 and has risen to international fame. She has also been involved in supporting the Big Noise orchestra in Raploch, Stirling - inspired by the Venezuelan El Sistema scheme to help poorer children. The violinist said: "So many people up and down the country are trying to create a better foundation for musical education.

Australia - "The Prime Minister's Olympic Dinner has become the signature lead-up event in preparation for the Games - to recognise and support those who have been selected to represent Australia in London by raising vital additional funds to support our Olympic team" says Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia.

The Prime Minister's 8th Olympic Dinner, produced by Multiple Award Winning producers -Peter Jones Special Events, held at the Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, raised over $2m dollars for our Australian Olympic Team, competing at next month's Games.

VIP's included former Prime Ministers, Over 60 past and present Olympians, along with corporate guests.

Entertainment for the evening included a star studded line up featuring Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Philharmonic Choir, Delta Goodrem, Todd McKenny, David Hobson, Silvie Paladino, Mar

UK - As booking opened at 9am this morning, strong exhibitor numbers, record breaking pre-registration figures and a new focus on content provision were creating a buzz about PLASA 2012. With four brand new theatres and 80 free-to-attend sessions split into nine new themes, these exciting developments underpin PLASA's commitment to providing an unparalleled experience for visitors and remaining a leader in the provision of education, professional development and knowledge sharing across our industry.

PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths comments, "PLASA runs events to provide quality business opportunities, education and thought leadership. The PLASA Show in London is the only entertainment technology event to reinvest its revenue back into the industry it serves - anything that is not invested back into the show is used to help develop technical standards, certification and qualifi

UK / Rusisa - GearSource Europe has appointed Irina Gromova as an area consultant for Russia and CIS countries. Irina has a long and varied background in the entertainment industry, having specialised in foreign trade for leading Russian companies over the last 10 years.

Gromova comments: "The offer made by Garry Nelsson was a challenge for me, which I accepted with enthusiasm. I have known Garry for many years, and was excited by the chance to join his professional team. The first task was to take over the existing operations of GSE in Russia and other East European and Asian countries of the former USSR, as well as to develop sales and increase exposure to the product range in this territory. I am totally committed to using this chance to develop the GSE business here, and make it of benefit for both the company and our customers."

Garry Nelsson adds: "We saw

UK - Northern Light has recently completed design and installation work at Mareel - Shetland's new music, cinema and creative industries centre.

Located in Lerwick and due to open in late summer, Mareel boasts a live performance auditorium, two cinema screens, rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, education and training spaces, a digital media production suite, broadcast facilities and a café bar area.

Northern Light was called upon to provide specialist design and installation of wiring and containment across the whole building to enable the lighting, sound, communications, paging and production cabling to operate as planned.

The scope of work completed by Northern Light included the supply, installation and connection of all the production lighting distribution and control cabling, as well as the supply and installation of all the sound, communications, paging and pr

UK - Last month inspHire demonstrated market leading hire software solutions, tailored to meet the specific needs of the Lifting and Access Hire Industry, at Vertikal Days 2012.

Over the course of the two days, inspHire exhibited key features that are valuable to hire companies within the lifting, access and crane industry such as:

Automatic Servicing - inspHire provides you with the option to automatically place items in to a state of service when off-hired so an inspection must take place before it can be hired again.

Forward Planning - Carry out multiple future bookings for the same piece of equipment, checking clashes and scheduled service and repairs ensuring maximum utilisation of your machinery.

Create your own custom test certificate criteria, a LOLER certificate for example. Enter the test results, complete the test and attach it to the equipments record fo

UK - Sapsis Rigging played a pivotal role in the aerialist event held in London on 5 July, 2012. The event, titled One Extraordinary Day, was commissioned by the Mayor of London and involved performances by Elizabeth Streb and her Action Heroes troupe at the Millennium Bridge, City Hall, Trafalgar and Paternoster Squares, the National Theatre and the London Eye.

Sapsis Rigging provided design consultation and rigging equipment for all performer harnesses. Sapsis also provided onsite supervision at all venues.

"It was, to say the least, a very exciting day," noted Bill Sapsis, president of Sapsis Rigging. "Each of the locations provided a unique set of challenges, but it was the London Eye that demanded the most attention."

The performance on the Eye, which began at 10:15 pm, involved performers completing a serious of acrobatic manoeuvres while han

USA - The Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) has awarded 36 International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.) Local One members with its Rigger - Theatre Certification.

"Local One is very excited and proud of our success in the great number of our members who have recently been certified as ETCP Technicians," said Local One I.A.T.S.E. president James J. Claffey, Jr. "We believe that this achievement demonstrates our commitment to educating and training our members to provide the best service possible to our many employers, as well as enforcing, enhancing and protecting the traditional jurisdiction of Local One."

President Claffey added, "Congratulations and thanks are also in order to the Trustees of Local One I.A.T.S.E.'s Training, Education and Technology (TET) Fund and Education Committee Chairman Brother Paul Dean

UK - Lift Turn Move has announced the appointment of Dan Holme to director of the Entertainment Division.

Lift Turn Move are a lifting company with two main markets: Industrial & Entertainment and over the past few years Dan Holme has been spearheading the growth of the Entertainment Division. Over these years, LTM have seen a steady increase in the number of enquiries coming from theatres, venues and other fixed-installation projects, which is a change from the touring market that they were used to.

John Jones & David King credit this shift to the introduction of the LoadGuard hoist in 2008 and also, to Dan Holme. Talking about the appointment, David King comments, "The role reflects what Dan has been doing day-in-day-out for a while now at LTM, and will help bring focus to the market as LTM continues to grow in both the entertainment and industrial sectors in which it s

UK - Two more sessions are now confirmed - adding to the already busy programme of seminars and debates at the Earls Court Conference Centre on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 September.

Now firmly established as the seminal event for all rigging practitioners and professionals across the global entertainment sector, the PLASA Rigging Conference is proud to confirm the speakers for two more presentations added to the schedule.

Adding to the international profile of the Conference are Rinus Bakker and Roy Schilderman from the Association of Riggers and Grounders in Holland (ARGH). Their presentation, Common Practice? complements one of the central objectives of the conference: to develop and establish common practices across Europe. All touring personnel will be familiar with the sometimes erratic variations in terminology, safe working practices and standards as they cross bor

USA - David Edelstein, managing director of Entertainment equipment engineering company Triple E will be chairing a discussion entitled All You Wanted To Know About Automation But Were Afraid To Ask at this year's North American Theatre, Engineering and Architecture Conference (NATEAC) this month.

Based on the conferences produced by Richard Brett in London, the 2012 NATEAC will see more than 50 panellists speak at 18 sessions on topics ranging from current automation technology to the design of stage lifts and a discussion of what the type of performance venues required over the next 20 years.

"The conference aims to promote communication between the architects, engineers, consultants, and manufacturers responsible for designing and building new theatres," says Edelstein. "I fully support this and was delighted to be asked to chair this session, which wi

UK - Flightcase manufacturer 5 Star Cases has supplied custom super-tough road cases to a Swedish collector Henrik Stuifbergen, for a number of artefacts from the White Star Line ocean liner RMS Olympic, sister ship and carbon copy of the ill fated RMS Titanic.

These went on display at The Exhibition Titanic that started in Spain 10 years ago and is currently showing in Barcelona until September, from where it will tour to other European destinations.

The exhibition has also visited Sweden, Germany and Denmark, and there are plans for an Asian Titanic exhibition in 2014, starting in Hong Kong.

With 2012 being the centenary of the Titanic's sinking, the exhibition has gathered momentum and interest.

Stuifbergen contacted 5 Star needing a solution to move his artefacts around quickly and easily.

He had acquired the massive oak second class dining room doors from the

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd. has supplied a custom FOH lighting position curved truss, complete with CM Lodestar chain hoists, a bespoke motor controller and power distribution solutions to the Little Theatre Gateshead.

The Little Theatre Gateshead is home to the Progressive Players, who produce up to 10 of their own shows per year and also 'dry-hire' the venue to outside groups.

The Little Theatre's chairman and manager, Robbie Carruthers was referred to AC-ET when seeking an innovative way of integrating a flown truss for lighting positions in front of the proscenium arch. He wanted this to harmoniously follow the curvature of the ceiling and allow maximum height for lighting fixtures, whilst minimising intrusion into audience sightlines.

A.C. Rigging's Matt Millward, based in the company's Leeds office, facilitated the design and co-ordination of the

UK - Right Structures has launched across the UK and Europe offering bespoke staging and structures to the event market.

The event service's modular system, Geo Structure, consists of identical, reconfigurable steel components which provide structural integrity and creative flexibility far beyond other scaffolding-based systems currently on the market, claims the company.

The result of 20 years of research, it has been developed by a team of event specialists and engineers. Rebranded after a major external investment, it has launched a new website (www.rightstructures.com) and expanded its stock inventory, product range and capabilities to work across Europe.

Ruben Caruana, Right Structures' business development director, said, "We offer a design-led alternative for events looking for structures, complete with full structural calculations and engineered to the highest E

UK - Tait Technologies provided 320 hospital beds for the National Health Service Swing Out Sisters mass choreography section of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony on the 27th of July, 2012.

London 2012 has a 'zero to landfill' policy for the event and therefore all products are required to be fully recyclable or have a quantifiable after life. Working with Danny Boyle and his designer Mark Tildsley, Tait Technologies designed the beds so that they could be sent to medical facilities in less fortunate countries after the event.

In order to find a suitable placement for the beds, Tait Technologies contacted work colleagues Charlie Hernandez and Lori Tierney from "Just a bunch of Roadies", www.justabunchofroadies.org , a team of men and women that work behind the scenes in the concert touring industry who, in conjunction with Project C.U.R.E, set up a highly effi

UK - If, like the rest of the world, you were completely blown away by the London 2012 Opening Ceremony, don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the technical teams responsible for turning Danny Boyle's vision into reality!

The first session to be revealed in The Olympics Uncovered programme at PLASA 2012, Backstage at the London 2012 Ceremonies is your chance to hear technical director, Piers Shepperd, and team present an overview of the mega staging, flying, audio, AV and special effects behind the London 2012 Olympic Ceremonies.

The bumper line-up includes:

Piers Shepperd - technical director

Jeremy Lloyd - technical manager - technical design and staging

James Lee - technical manager - aerial & closing ceremonies

Nick Jones - technical manager - lighting AV and power

Scott Buchanan - technical manager - services and special projects

UK - Due to be displayed at PLASA 2012 (Earls Court, 9-12 September) the Ghost is the latest stylish lectern from The Lectern Company which designs and manufactures upmarket lecterns. The company has widened its portfolio with the introduction of an acrylic lectern to complement its successful alloy range.

The Ghost has been designed so that the built-in features which have made Lectern Company lecterns so popular have not been compromised, says the company. It has a 7" HD monitor, shock mounted microphone sockets, cable management system and an LED uplighter. These have all been carefully incorporated into the slim and elegant design.

The Ghost will be on stand 1-H11 at PLASA 2012 together with The Lectern Company's other designs.

(Claire Beeson)

Spain - Mojo Barriers has expanded its European capabilities, providing its crowd barriers and consultation services to support touring and local promoters across Spain.

Marking its presence with a series of the region's most well known festivals Mojo is working with promoter Last Tour International, supplying Sonisphere (25 - 26 May), BBK Bilbao Live (12 - 14 July) and En Vivo (27 - 29 September) where it will be installing its Barrier Load Monitoring System (BLMS), which includes sensors to monitor crowd pressure.

Mojo Barrier's extensive product range and stock inventory has enabled them to work closely with production manager Eneko Gurrutxaga to create custom configurations for each site. For BBK Bilbao Live Mojo design and install a barrier layout for the main stage utilising 240 units of standard barriers, specials and corners incorporating two mega exits to aid the flow

UK - At PLASA 2012, Harting is featuring its rugged connectivity solutions for a wide range of AV multimedia installation applications.

A key element of the Harting product family is the Han-Modular building-block concept, which allows connector inserts for audio, video, data and power signals to be combined in three different housing variants - Han B, Han-Eco and Han-Yellock - offering a choice of characteristics in terms of weight, resistance to damage, potential for cable trunking drag-through and cost.

New additions to the award-winning Han-Yellock series of rugged rectangular connectors include Han-Yellock10: a smaller form-factor device that can accommodate a wide range of inserts, allowing signal types including RJ45 Ethernet data, fibre optics, 10-40 A power and hybrid mixed power and data.

The larger Han-Yellock 30 and 60 housings can now accommodate 25- and 48-way

UK - Harlow, Essex, based performing arts school Makin' Steps likes to pull out all the stops for its end of year show - traditionally staged at Harlow Leisure Centre - and ensure its students get to perform accompanied by "proper X-Factor technical production values".

This year, they asked London based lighting and visuals rental company Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) to provide lighting, trussing, rigging, power distribution and crew. The design and specification for the kit was produced by Makin' Steps' founder and creative director Scott Simpson, and his lighting designer Mike Penketh.

This year's show, entitled 5212 covered the six decades of popular music since the Queen's coronation in 1952.

It was the first time CSE has worked with Makin' Steps, and CSE's Haydn Cruickshank comments, "I was totally impressed not just with the level of excellence o

UK - Offering a wall to wall, high load bearing sprung floor, Le Mark's new Woodland Spring "has wowed students and dancing professionals after its recent installation at the award winning Edge Hill University", says the company.

Le Mark's Dave Cartwright says, "The need to offer outstanding levels of dancing support and comfort, whilst at the same time being able to withstand the weight of heavy, powered access equipment being driven over the floor is just what Woodland Spring has been developed to offer. Traditional void sprung floors are incapable of accepting the weights involved in the powered access equipment and no other flooring company could give Edge Hill the assurances that they needed."

Edge Hill's performing arts technician Thom Harrison says, "Le Mark helped us through the process of choosing and installing the floor in our Studio Theatre

UK - A packed programme of sessions is now confirmed for the third annual PLASA Rigging Conference at the Earls Court Conference Centre in London on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 September 2012.

The PLASA Rigging Conference is delighted to confirm that the conference will close with 'Question Time' hosted by Alan Jacobi LVO, MD of Unusual Rigging.

An iconic figure in the world of rigging, Alan's involvement with the Rigging Conference dates back to its inception, as conference consultant Chris Higgs explains, "Alan Jacobi (AJ) opened the inaugural PLASA Rigging Conference in 2010 in his inimitable style but sadly wasn't able to join us last year. I was therefore delighted that he agreed immediately to host the closing Q&A session this year. Alan is an inspirational character to many of us and someone who I have no doubt will again ask insightful questions, act as question mast

UK - Previewing from 31 August at the Bristol Hippodrome, The Lion King UK tour will be one of the heaviest touring productions in the UK at the moment, requiring Unusual Rigging to undertake a serious upgrade to the roof truss at the Bristol theatre.

Although the show's total weight does not exceed the limits of the Hippodrome, most of the weight is concentrated in the downstage area, necessitating the strengthening of the four roof truss bays to enable each one to take the full weight at any one time. This meant each bay had to be capable of carrying 30 tonnes, the theatre's existing evenly distributed show load.

Using eight tonnes of steel, Unusual Rigging worked with Sheetfabs to fabricate 15m x 1.5m of strengthening truss for each of the four roof truss bays, and completed the install in just 10 days. The team also strengthened the upright truss stage left and righ

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